Dr. Knutson reflects on the development of the ASM Long COVID protocol
By mid-summer 2020, my patients started coming in exhausted, unable to exercise, in a brain fog and suffering from seemingly random symptoms. One patient said, "I think I have this thing they are calling Long Haul COVID, can you help me?" They were the first wave. Most of what I know about treating Long COVID I learned from working with them.
Nothing about COVID-19 is easy. It is punishing for the patient, and perplexing for the doctors and practitioners who are trying to help them. When my first Long COVID patient said, can you help me? I was dubious. In my 20 years of practice, I had never seen anything as challenging as Long COVID.
Standing on the shoulders of 19th century osteopaths, and more than 100 years of chiropractic discoveries, chiropractors practicing Axial Stability Method (ASM) have developed extensive tools for treating the immune, hormonal, neurological and musculoskeletal systems as a whole. It is specific, sophisticated work.
Additionally, at the Lydian Center, for 15 years we have been developing a bigger concept of the “whole body” by incorporating principles and techniques from Japanese and Chinese acupuncture, the Ayervedic (yogic) energy systems, and a new field called Energy Kinesiology.
I drew on everything I knew about all these techniques combined to figure out a path toward healing Long COVID. When someone comes in with Long COVID, whether they have 2 or 20 symptoms, we do not treat those specific complaints. We look at where the disturbance is in the entire whole-body system (immune, neurological, hormonal, structural, energetic) and treat that.
When approaching the problem from this whole-body perspective, what is interesting is that the overarching pattern of Long COVID disturbance seems to be the same person to person. We do the same protocol with everyone. The body is a complex but seemingly ordered place. Everyone has the same set of rooms in their house (immune system, autonomic nervous system, sensory-motor system, structural-musculoskeletal system, respiratory system, heart/lung, digestive, energetic, etc.). In our protocol we move systematically from room to room straightening up. We identify the specific constellation of stresses and re-balance each system to restore order. The mess in each room is different for everyone, but the order of the clean-up is the same. Because Long COVID is so vast in its impact, across so many systems, and unique to each person, we cannot predict exactly which symptoms will respond to which step in the protocol. But in our experience (so far, more than 150 patients), by the end of treatment most even severe symptoms have melted away.
It seems we are unleashing the power of the body to heal itself.
Nothing about COVID-19 is easy. It is punishing for the patient, and perplexing for the doctors and practitioners who are trying to help them. When my first Long COVID patient said, can you help me? I was dubious. In my 20 years of practice, I had never seen anything as challenging as Long COVID.
Standing on the shoulders of 19th century osteopaths, and more than 100 years of chiropractic discoveries, chiropractors practicing Axial Stability Method (ASM) have developed extensive tools for treating the immune, hormonal, neurological and musculoskeletal systems as a whole. It is specific, sophisticated work.
Additionally, at the Lydian Center, for 15 years we have been developing a bigger concept of the “whole body” by incorporating principles and techniques from Japanese and Chinese acupuncture, the Ayervedic (yogic) energy systems, and a new field called Energy Kinesiology.
I drew on everything I knew about all these techniques combined to figure out a path toward healing Long COVID. When someone comes in with Long COVID, whether they have 2 or 20 symptoms, we do not treat those specific complaints. We look at where the disturbance is in the entire whole-body system (immune, neurological, hormonal, structural, energetic) and treat that.
When approaching the problem from this whole-body perspective, what is interesting is that the overarching pattern of Long COVID disturbance seems to be the same person to person. We do the same protocol with everyone. The body is a complex but seemingly ordered place. Everyone has the same set of rooms in their house (immune system, autonomic nervous system, sensory-motor system, structural-musculoskeletal system, respiratory system, heart/lung, digestive, energetic, etc.). In our protocol we move systematically from room to room straightening up. We identify the specific constellation of stresses and re-balance each system to restore order. The mess in each room is different for everyone, but the order of the clean-up is the same. Because Long COVID is so vast in its impact, across so many systems, and unique to each person, we cannot predict exactly which symptoms will respond to which step in the protocol. But in our experience (so far, more than 150 patients), by the end of treatment most even severe symptoms have melted away.
It seems we are unleashing the power of the body to heal itself.