What is the ASM Long COVID protocol?
Overview
Our Long COVID protocol is a holistic approach that works with the biomechanical (neurological and musculoskeletal) system, and the immune, visceral and energy systems. We utilize gentle techniques drawn from chiropractic, acupressure and energy kinesiology to address the individual patient’s unique constellation of compensatory interactions among the physical and energetic systems of the body.
The protocol is divided into three phases of care:
The protocol is a methodical, step-by-step process of gently guiding multiple interrelated systems of the body out of a systemically stressed and fragile state into a new normal that is more balanced and resilient.
While the protocol is complex and requires considerable training and practice to master, it is completely teachable. Dr. Knutson has given a series of seminars about the protocol for chiropractors, and there are chiropractors in Maine, Vermont, and Oregon who can perform the protocol.
The protocol is divided into three phases of care:
- Phase 1: Stabilize what we call the “Triad of Equilibrium-Center of Balance” which includes the upper cervical spine, and rebalance the immune system. (5-9 visits)
- Phase 2: Stabilize the Center of Gravity - the sacroiliac joints. (4-5 visits)
- Phase 3: Recalibrate the muscles involved in the two main phases of gait (heel strike and swing phase). (6 visits)
The protocol is a methodical, step-by-step process of gently guiding multiple interrelated systems of the body out of a systemically stressed and fragile state into a new normal that is more balanced and resilient.
While the protocol is complex and requires considerable training and practice to master, it is completely teachable. Dr. Knutson has given a series of seminars about the protocol for chiropractors, and there are chiropractors in Maine, Vermont, and Oregon who can perform the protocol.
Phase 1 of the Protocol
We address 2 major systems: stabilizing the “Triad of Equilibrium-Center of Balance” and treating the immune and visceral systems with a technique we call Visceral Somatic Reflex Patterns. Treating these 2 powerful systems correlates with a dramatic reduction in covid symptoms. After receiving phase 1 of the protocol, participants in our studies reported a decrease in average symptom severity from 6.9 to 2.1 on a 10-point scale.
The Triad of Equilibrium is our Center of Balance. It is the 3-legged stool relationship between sensory data coming from the vestibular/auditory system, the visual system, and neck muscle proprioception. Any injury to the head or neck (even many years in the past) can lead to a chronic destabilization of biomechanical/proprioceptive information about head position. For the nervous system, knowing where our head is in space is the difference between potential injury and safety. It’s really important! As this compromised sensory data dumps into the cerebellum for processing, it can stress the whole sensory-motor system. Junk in, junk out. This can lead to vestibular and visual challenges, sensory overwhelm, headaches and pain of all sorts. Even if everything seemed to be fine before developing Long COVID, these underlying injuries can reduce resiliency and make it harder to recover.
When we correct this fundamental injury (using gentle techniques), we do it in positions of increasing gravitational challenge: first lying down, then seated, then standing. In these different positions, the biomechanical forces on the body are very different, so the complexity of muscle involvement increases when we go from lying to sitting to standing.
We also include visual, auditory, and vestibular challenges to activate the neural networks involved in the sensory processing of the Triad of Equilibrium. These sequential treatments build upon each other to reduce stress on the sensory-motor system.
The upper cervical spine is deeply connected anatomically to the parasympathetic (rest and digest) division of the autonomic nervous system. It is possible that by restoring mechanical integrity to this compact area of the spine, this could reduce interference in the parasympathetic system, and thereby help to restore autonomic nervous system function.
Viscero Somatic Reflex Patterns (VSRP) is a synergistic amalgam of traditional Chinese and Japanese acupuncture, 19th-20th century osteopathic and chiropractic principles, and western neuroanatomy.
VSRP diagnosis:
With VSRP, we do not diagnose or treat a specific disease or illness. Rather, we diagnose patterns of stress in the visceral organ systems using Japanese abdominal (hara) zone diagnosis. These zones are reflexes on the abdomen, associated with the acupuncture meridian system, connected to specific organs.
The Triad of Equilibrium is our Center of Balance. It is the 3-legged stool relationship between sensory data coming from the vestibular/auditory system, the visual system, and neck muscle proprioception. Any injury to the head or neck (even many years in the past) can lead to a chronic destabilization of biomechanical/proprioceptive information about head position. For the nervous system, knowing where our head is in space is the difference between potential injury and safety. It’s really important! As this compromised sensory data dumps into the cerebellum for processing, it can stress the whole sensory-motor system. Junk in, junk out. This can lead to vestibular and visual challenges, sensory overwhelm, headaches and pain of all sorts. Even if everything seemed to be fine before developing Long COVID, these underlying injuries can reduce resiliency and make it harder to recover.
When we correct this fundamental injury (using gentle techniques), we do it in positions of increasing gravitational challenge: first lying down, then seated, then standing. In these different positions, the biomechanical forces on the body are very different, so the complexity of muscle involvement increases when we go from lying to sitting to standing.
We also include visual, auditory, and vestibular challenges to activate the neural networks involved in the sensory processing of the Triad of Equilibrium. These sequential treatments build upon each other to reduce stress on the sensory-motor system.
The upper cervical spine is deeply connected anatomically to the parasympathetic (rest and digest) division of the autonomic nervous system. It is possible that by restoring mechanical integrity to this compact area of the spine, this could reduce interference in the parasympathetic system, and thereby help to restore autonomic nervous system function.
Viscero Somatic Reflex Patterns (VSRP) is a synergistic amalgam of traditional Chinese and Japanese acupuncture, 19th-20th century osteopathic and chiropractic principles, and western neuroanatomy.
VSRP diagnosis:
With VSRP, we do not diagnose or treat a specific disease or illness. Rather, we diagnose patterns of stress in the visceral organ systems using Japanese abdominal (hara) zone diagnosis. These zones are reflexes on the abdomen, associated with the acupuncture meridian system, connected to specific organs.
VSRP treatment:
VSRP treatment involves a precise and highly organized order of point activation of various levels of the back, using gentle pressure on either side of the spine. The levels of the spine that we activate are linked to specific visceral organs.
Spinal-visceral concordances are used in many healing systems. In Chinese medicine the shu points along the bladder meridian on the back are routinely used for treatment of organ dysfunction. The 19th and early 20th century osteopaths observed a spinal viscero-somatic system referring to it as reflexes. Chiropractors throughout the 20th century developed sophisticated ways of restoring health to the visceral system by stimulating different spinal levels. Through western anatomy we know that the different spinal levels provide autonomic sympathetic innervation to the entire visceral system.
Here is an example: thoracic level 3 (T3) is associated with the lungs
In so many ways, all truths overlap.
In ASM we have access to about 20 functional organ systems through these concordances.
VSRP treatment involves a precise and highly organized order of point activation of various levels of the back, using gentle pressure on either side of the spine. The levels of the spine that we activate are linked to specific visceral organs.
Spinal-visceral concordances are used in many healing systems. In Chinese medicine the shu points along the bladder meridian on the back are routinely used for treatment of organ dysfunction. The 19th and early 20th century osteopaths observed a spinal viscero-somatic system referring to it as reflexes. Chiropractors throughout the 20th century developed sophisticated ways of restoring health to the visceral system by stimulating different spinal levels. Through western anatomy we know that the different spinal levels provide autonomic sympathetic innervation to the entire visceral system.
Here is an example: thoracic level 3 (T3) is associated with the lungs
- In western neuroanatomy sympathetic innervation of the lungs originates from T1-5.
- For 2000 years, Chinese medicine acupoint BL13 (located at T3) has been used for lung issues.
- In ASM our lung point is T3.
In so many ways, all truths overlap.
In ASM we have access to about 20 functional organ systems through these concordances.
Long Covid has a complicated and unique signature pattern of visceral organ stress. The treatment protocol to reduce that stress is a complex, cumulative sequence of specific point activations that are diagrammed on the Axial Stability Method Long COVID Protocol chart.
The mechanism of action of a VSRP treatment has not been researched, but we speculate it involves mechanotransduction – i.e. mechanical pressure to specific points on the body causing a cascading effect that travels through the fascial system, affecting change in the autonomic nervous system and other seemingly distant systems.
Long COVID seems to be a condition in which the body has gone into sympathetic dominance – in a perpetual state of survival mode. This is debilitating and exhausting. It seems possible that some of our success with this Phase 1 protocol is because we are rebalancing the sympathetic innervation of visceral systems. This may explain why there is such a steep drop in severe symptoms during this phase of care.
The mechanism of action of a VSRP treatment has not been researched, but we speculate it involves mechanotransduction – i.e. mechanical pressure to specific points on the body causing a cascading effect that travels through the fascial system, affecting change in the autonomic nervous system and other seemingly distant systems.
Long COVID seems to be a condition in which the body has gone into sympathetic dominance – in a perpetual state of survival mode. This is debilitating and exhausting. It seems possible that some of our success with this Phase 1 protocol is because we are rebalancing the sympathetic innervation of visceral systems. This may explain why there is such a steep drop in severe symptoms during this phase of care.
Phase 2 of the Protocol
In phase 2 of the protocol, we continue with stabilizing the structural system. Now our attention moves from the upper cervical spine to the “Center of Gravity”: the pelvis and the sacro-iliac joints (SIJs).
The pelvis is our center of gravity, the center of shock absorption during gait, our center of movement, and the center of power transfer between the upper body and the lower body. It is our biomechanical context for safely complying with or resisting the forces of gravity. The largest muscles in the body attach to the pelvis.
Injury to the SIJs, and subsequent compensations, will alter muscle activation patterns and firing sequences, reducing power, endurance, and coordination. This destabilizes the entire biomechanical system, contributing to sensory integration problems, fatigue, and pain. (We are indebted to Dr. Rick Serola for his brilliant, systematic analysis of the crucial role of the SIJs in managing biomechanical forces throughout the whole body.)
Chronic biomechanical instability due to injury to the SIJs is very common. This instability is not caused bv COVID-19. But as a pre-existing condition, it seems to undermine the body’s broader resilience and contribute to the symptomatology of Long COVID.
Every new patient with Long Covid that we have treated has had this instability. Through a cumulative 4-5 part series of treatments we methodically unwind compensations related to SIJ injury, and reestablish pelvic structural stability. After treating this instability, patients often report further improvement in their Long COVID symptoms. And some report that walking and moving feel better than before getting sick! Following this phase of the protocol, participants in our studies reported an average reduction in their severe symptoms from 2.1 to 1.5 on a ten-point scale.
The pelvis is our center of gravity, the center of shock absorption during gait, our center of movement, and the center of power transfer between the upper body and the lower body. It is our biomechanical context for safely complying with or resisting the forces of gravity. The largest muscles in the body attach to the pelvis.
Injury to the SIJs, and subsequent compensations, will alter muscle activation patterns and firing sequences, reducing power, endurance, and coordination. This destabilizes the entire biomechanical system, contributing to sensory integration problems, fatigue, and pain. (We are indebted to Dr. Rick Serola for his brilliant, systematic analysis of the crucial role of the SIJs in managing biomechanical forces throughout the whole body.)
Chronic biomechanical instability due to injury to the SIJs is very common. This instability is not caused bv COVID-19. But as a pre-existing condition, it seems to undermine the body’s broader resilience and contribute to the symptomatology of Long COVID.
Every new patient with Long Covid that we have treated has had this instability. Through a cumulative 4-5 part series of treatments we methodically unwind compensations related to SIJ injury, and reestablish pelvic structural stability. After treating this instability, patients often report further improvement in their Long COVID symptoms. And some report that walking and moving feel better than before getting sick! Following this phase of the protocol, participants in our studies reported an average reduction in their severe symptoms from 2.1 to 1.5 on a ten-point scale.
Phase 3 of the Protocol
Recalibration of muscles.
In a series of treatments, we recalibrate the muscles for the two major phases of gait: swing phase and heel strike. The swing phase is the anti-gravity phase of gait, when muscles are highly activated, and the heel strike phase is the gravity, shock absorption phase.
Using a gentle Activator instrument, we reset muscles in the spine, arms and legs in the three primary developmental positions: lying, sitting, and standing. We reset these muscles to keep them from pulling the pelvis back into its old position. This third phase of the protocol is required to secure the gains from phase 2—it enables the body to maintain a new stable biomechanical homeostasis.
Phase 3 of the protocol seems to further reduce Long COVID symptoms. After phase 3, participants in our studies reported an average reduction in their severe symptoms from 1.5 to 0.7 on a ten-point scale.
In a series of treatments, we recalibrate the muscles for the two major phases of gait: swing phase and heel strike. The swing phase is the anti-gravity phase of gait, when muscles are highly activated, and the heel strike phase is the gravity, shock absorption phase.
Using a gentle Activator instrument, we reset muscles in the spine, arms and legs in the three primary developmental positions: lying, sitting, and standing. We reset these muscles to keep them from pulling the pelvis back into its old position. This third phase of the protocol is required to secure the gains from phase 2—it enables the body to maintain a new stable biomechanical homeostasis.
Phase 3 of the protocol seems to further reduce Long COVID symptoms. After phase 3, participants in our studies reported an average reduction in their severe symptoms from 1.5 to 0.7 on a ten-point scale.