Integrative modalities help manage symptoms in post-COVID patients

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By Linda Childers

It’s been two years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared novel coronavirus (COVID-19) a pandemic, yet the battle is far from over for many COVID-19 survivors who continue to be plagued by ongoing health problems.

According to research published in the JAMA Network Open, as many as 50 percent of all patients who contracted COVID-19 are living with lingering symptoms that include debilitating fatigue, shortness of breath, loss of taste and smell, cardiovascular and respiratory issues, brain fog, and anxiety and depression.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) refers to long-term COVID-19 symptoms as post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC). Other terms used are post-COVID syndrome, long-COVID, or long-term COVID. Patients with lingering COVID-19 symptoms are often called “long-haulers.”

A new study published in the Journal of Traditional Chinese Medical Sciences found that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) therapies have widely been used in the treatment of COVID-19, either alone or in combination with traditional therapy and have resulted in significant improvements in symptom relief and lung inflammation.

“Since COVID-19 is a respiratory virus, we commonly see patients with a lingering cough or shortness of breath,” said Henry Hwang, DC, LAc, director of clinical education and assistant professor, Eastern medicine department at the Southern California University of Health Sciences in Whittier, Calif. “There are herbal formulas, when combined with acupuncture, can help open airways, treat cough, reduce inflammation, and work to keep the body’s immune system from overreacting. These can include herbs like Da Huang (Radix et Rhizoma Rhei), Huang Qin (Radix Scutellariae), Shi Gao (Gypsum Fibrosum), that have an anti-inflammatory effect.”

A recent study in the journal, Medicine (Baltimore), found acupuncture is another modality that can help long-COVID patients regain their sense of taste and smell.

“The goal of treating loss of smell is to make the recovery faster and from the limited cases I’ve seen, acupuncture and herbs seem to be helpful in that respect,” Hwang said. “Interestingly, the more frequent complaints I get with post-COVID patients are fatigue, dyspnea, headaches, difficulty concentrating, joint or muscle pain, lack of appetite, loose stool or diarrhea, and/or chest pain, and clinically I have found acupuncture combined with herbal formulas to be very helpful in also treating these symptoms.”

Hwang said most post-COVID patients treated with acupuncture and herbal remedies see improvements within four to five treatments. 

“The overall duration will depend on the severity of the condition,” Hwang said. “The more severe a condition is before the patient comes to see us, the longer it takes to recover.”

Ashley Prince, DC, owner of Prince Health and Wellness in Woodlands, Texas, has seen how chiropractic care has helped numerous post-COVID patients regain their sense of taste and smell after an atlas adjustment.

Prince said the initial discovery was made after a post-COVID client who was treated for lower back pain, asked if it was normal to regain their sense of taste and smell after an adjustment. Prince told her the results weren’t typical, but she was also intrigued by the results. She soon heard from other local chiropractors who reported similar successes with patients.

This isn’t the first time that chiropractic care helped a patient to regain their sense of taste and smell. A study published in the Journal of Upper Cervical Chiropractic Research found that a woman who suffered from neck pain, right sided knee pain, and a loss of taste and smell, had her senses return after receiving upper cervical chiropractic care.

Since the spine is close to the central and peripheral nervous system, Prince explained that when the spine becomes misaligned, it can result in mechanical stress, which may irritate nerves and lead to unhealthy symptoms throughout the body.

“Most of the symptoms I see in post-COVID patients are neurological, including headaches, stress, anxiety, and loss of taste and smell,” Prince said. “I place a handheld device at the first bone in the neck to perform an adjustment.”

Prince said the device, used by chiropractors to perform adjustments, produces nerve impulses, which the central nervous system then uses to update its neural image of targeted treatment areas.

“Some patients regain their sense of taste and smell immediately, while others require multiple visits,” Prince said. “The number of visits depends on a patient’s age and severity of their condition.”

Prince said there may be a correlation between spinal misalignment and those who are more prone to experiencing post-COVID symptoms. The entire premise of chiropractic medicine was based on Daniel David Palmer’s theory that most disease is caused by misaligned vertebrae that impinge on spinal nerves.

For Prince that means that patients not only receive relief from spine issues, but that they also maintain spinal corrections.

“We send patients home with an at-home care kit that includes a supportive pillow, as well as exercises to maintain proper spinal alignment,” Prince said. “We want to help patients reduce any discomfort and ensure their adjustments last longer.”