Mind-body therapies may play role in long COVID health outcomes
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Mind-body therapy may play a key role in achieving more positive outcomes for patients with long COVID, according to a speaker at the Basic and Clinical Immunology for the Busy Clinician symposium.
“Integrative health care often brings conventional and complementary approaches together in a coordinated way,” Chenchen Wang, MD, MSc, of Tufts University, in Boston, told attendees. “It emphasizes a holistic, patient-focused approach to health care and wellness, and treating the whole person rather than, for example, one organ system.”
According to Wang, a study analyzing the impact of COVID-19 on patients with chronic musculoskeletal diseases and pain showed that those with positive coping strategies, such as regular exercise regimens and strong social networks, demonstrated better physical, psychological and immune outcomes.
“If a patient had positive coping strategies, like regular physical activity and social support, they were associated with positive physical, psychological and immune health outcomes,” she said.
Outside of general pieces of advice, including the nurturing of healthy physical and social habits, specific mind-body therapies, such as tai chi, appear to be related to improved immune health, Wang added.
She also referenced a trial that included patients with the varicella zoster virus, which suggested that patients who practiced tai chi were more likely to respond positively to vaccination compared with patients who only received health education.
“Mind-body therapies appear to influence virus-specific immune responses to vaccinations,” Wang said. “These immunomodulatory effects highlight the promising role that mind-body therapies may play in regulating the immune system for long COVID disease outcomes.”
She added that the importance of specific mind-body therapies, like yoga and tai chi, is evidenced by their official recognition by groups like the American College of Rheumatology, Osteoarthritis Research Society International and EULAR as a “core” therapy for osteoarthritis in the hips and knees.
“Whole-person health considers the whole person and the relationships among numerous factors, including biologic, environmental, behavioral, mental and social factors in determining health,” Wang said.
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Wang Chenchen. Integrative health approaches for optimum immune health. Presented at Basic and Clinical Immunology for the Busy Clinician, Feb. 25-26, 2023; Scottsdale, Arizona (hybrid meeting).
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