The Office of National Statistics estimate over 2 million people in the UK are (as of October 2022) suffering from “Long COVID” – symptoms continuing at least a month after infection. Over 1 million of these people reported having been infected at least a year earlier. That is an awfully long time to be suffering with any condition, and for as long as formal and well-tested treatments remain elusive, many sufferers are sharing their own symptoms, treatments, self-care tips and recommendations online

The most common symptoms for long COVID sufferers are weakness and tiredness, shortness of breath, and loss of smell but there is a long and very varied list of other symptoms including anxiety, trouble sleeping, muscle aches, and headaches. Sufferers also report some stranger symptoms including “brain fog”, dizziness, skin rashes and even hair loss

We are certainly not advocating massage as a cure for Long COVID. The structural results of a Covid infection, such as damaged lung tissue or neurological alterations, almost certainly cannot be helped by massage. Your first port of call should absolutely by your GP! However, we do believe that a regular massage could help alleviate some of the direct or indirect symptoms. After all, some of those symptoms – like muscle aches, anxiety and sleeping problems – are typical reasons why people see us for regular massages

Indeed, a small study of 20 patients found that a course of 9-10 weekly massages (as well as self-massage by the patients) “significantly reduced fatigue related to Long COVID”. It is still early days of course, but while we wait for larger scale surveys and research to establish formal courses of treatment, we hope our massage might help some long Covid sufferers; it can’t hurt to try! Feel free to discuss your long Covid symptoms with our team of massage professionals and we will do our best to help