Integrative medicine in the recovery of patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome

Abstract

Introduction: The pandemic caused by COVID-19 in early 2020 impacted public health worldwide. In addition to the disease itself, there are long-lasting symptoms that characterize the Acute Post-COVID-19 Syndrome, which involves a wide spectrum of symptoms and directly affects the quality of life of patients, being integrative and complementary practices, important allies in the restoration of health in these cases.

Objective: To measure the impact of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) intervention, through the Gonzalez protocol, in patients with acute post-COVID-19 syndrome.

Methods: The present study is characterized by a series of cases of patients who presented sequelae of COVID-19 in whom consecutive sessions of TCM techniques were performed through the Gonzalez protocol (acupuncture, moxibustion, bloodletting and cupping) and the impact was measured using the tools Verbal Analog Scale (VAS) for the intensity of reported symptoms, WHOQOL-bref for quality of life and pulse and tongue analysis according to TCM for energetic evaluation.

Results: After the end of the sessions there was a drop in mean VAS from 7.6 to 2.4 (p=0.035) and a perception of improvement in patients' quality of life. There was a change in the characteristics of the tongue throughout the treatment, which started with a purple color becoming pink with a whitish tartness at the end, and the pulse remained constant during the sessions.

Conclusion: The use of TCM practices was successful in reducing persistent complaints caused by COVID infection, positively impacting the quality of life of these patients.