Impact of Spa Therapy on Symptoms and Quality of Life in Post-COVID-19 Patients with Chronic Conditions, 2024, Maria Costantino et al

Abstract
Background: With limited pharmacological interventions, post-COVID-19 condition is a clinical challenge, and supplementary therapies are essential for symptom relief and enhancing quality of life (QoL).

In our prospective observational study, we aimed to evaluate the impact of Salus per aquam (Spa) therapy on post-COVID-19 symptoms and QoL in individuals who suffer from chronic joint, musculoskeletal, skin, and/or respiratory conditions.

Methods: A total of 159 individuals undergoing Spa therapy were enrolled, and 78 of them had post-COVID-19 symptoms, assessed using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and modified British Medical Research Council Questionnaire (mMRC-DS scales), as well as the Short Form 36 Health Status Survey (SF-36) questionnaire for QoL.

Results: Spa therapy significantly reduced most post-COVID-19 symptoms, especially chronic fatigue, pain, brain fog, and persistent cough (all p < 0.05), as well as physical (+72%) and emotional (+66%) limitations. When stratified by sex, males showed a greater improvement from baseline, while females consistently displayed a higher amelioration in all QoL dimensions. Moreover, full vaccination with 3–4 doses significantly protected against SARS-CoV-2 re-infections and post-COVID-19 development (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Spa therapy demonstrated effectiveness in mitigating post-COVID-19 symptoms and enhancing QoL in patients suffering from chronic diseases.
LINK

 

I'd be worried about all that heat for anyone who developed POTs or heart issues after Covid.

 

I did hydro massage therapy during Covid infection for leg muscle exhaustion. Only my legs were in the water. It was temporary relief but felt good and I was able to stand and walk around for an hour.

 

The joke that is evidence-based medicine in a nutshell.

It definitely is pleasant. Pleasant things feel good. Do they "mitigate" symptoms and enhance quality of life? Of course not, that's silly. But it does feel pleasant, and if you substitute a real end point for that, then you can pretty much claim anything you want. If you're into that. It's completely self-serving, but that's also evidence-based medicine in a nutshell.

Unless academia reins in this new standard of doing worthless BS studies because it's the easiest way to produce the main output expected of them, papers, regardless of quality or value, that's all they're going to have soon. This is like if software engineers were evaluated based on the lines of code they write, then develop methods to format code with one line per statement and boast of 20-50x boost to productivity. Clownish nonsense. This should be mocked mercilessly.

 

Spa treatments did not do the ancient Romans any good, as they are all dead, probably.
So it doesn't actually treat/cure anything, other than a shortage of Rollers amongst health care professionals and researchers.

Much the same as a nice meal, it can make people feel better, but it cures nuffin.

(In my opinion as neither a medically trained nor spa operations trained person, or even a rolls royce dealer.)

 

Can we get a grant to run a double blind randomised control trial into that?

 

Might also be worth investigating if good things feel pleasant. Controversial I know...

 

I'd like to know more about why people are doing this sort of thing trying to push these things onto people who have serious illness. I know that for cancer there is some movement towards having things like massage or other therapies to help with the stress of going through treatment, but there I'm not sure that it goes further than trying to stop people from falling apart and make the whole thing more bearable vs any claims it affects outcomes nevermind is an actual treatment

I looked up the funding and conflict of interest and whilst the seed funding has come in part from Thermae there isn't a conflict from the author so it could be possible the project came first and the 'coming about' of the project wasn't due to the funding but that was just a bonus once it was already decided to do it.

As others have said this is a waste of research because if they just want to offer something nice then offer something that matches the person - it is just pure judgementalism that being this rather than a ticket to a movie or someone getting their hair done or having a nice meal brought to them.

For some with things like skin conditions, aches they might find this fits them best. Another irony is that I know that there is a HImalayan salt rooms that people with eg sinus issues go to, and that really does help for some because it's an issue that medication can only do so much for (and surgery mightn't also fix) - I could see how adding that in could help because relieving 'load' of symptoms with things that actually do help means better rest and less pain on the body for someone who has long covid. That absolutely isn't about 'stress' or psychosomatic but being able to function and how if you have 25 illnesses at once then them interacting means in itself you need to treat the ones you can to give a chance of recovering from the others.

But that isn't what this is trying to claim.

I think there is irony that this method isn't far off the other rehabbers' and therapy-based methods are. Of course these things aren't long-term cures and this doesn't test it. If the company offering it wanted to think it was then there would be long-term follow-up.



edited to move the second bit into a new comment for length etc

 

I know a few people (one pwME) who get regular medical hydro/water massage to treat pain. It has prevented them from taking meds. It works for some with chronic joint, musculoskeletal pain. But it's not very practical for those who are housebound and might make pain worse.

 

Moved from above post for length.

This is in the title part:

So whilst these things on their own perhaps can't be defined as harmful - because someone interested in it can research if they want etc - the fact it is in this 'special issue' is a major different kettle of fish altogether.

We might if anyone can access it, want to look up this Special Issue to find out the intro and what it is suggesting and the list of other articles in it.


It just feels like the rebrand from healthcare being told off for their hysterical women behaviourist approach so they've rebranded it to 'just want to help with stress, because it might not cause but perpetuates' sophism. Why else, really, would people apparently working in healthcare want to be looking into these things?

So it is a completely different issue when you are talking abut people who have no actual healthcare, there isn't a genuine scietnific approach from all to looking for outcomes but have certain ideologies in mind, aren't heard and probably don't have proper support due to misinformation and bigotry attitudes being spread into the mechanisms of other agencies to make it hard to get decent basic support re: employers, state processes of all kinds being made deliberately hard and coercive.

I mean that is the irony because the original proper idea of the biopsychosocial from Engel was I think pointing out that the situation matters in this way and nothing to do with this bas****isation that it is the patient's responsibility and making life impossible whilst covering it up by claiming to offer some 'calm down dear' nonsense means it has some psychological or rehab component. Having probably used all of the tricks already said but also focused on those who aren't in that dire straits but are in better situations themselves so see no harm in this extra add-on because they aren't missing and having the basic needs obstructed in the same way being used as a sample.

I mean in basic terms that's just bullying and when stuff like this is then used as if it is some sort of proof of anything. I highly doubt anyone is just keen to help in the mean time whilst they properly sort their own mindset to get on and treat people properly in other ways.

It reminds me of the recent case with the Jeremy Kyle show where in summary a guy was put in a horrendous situation and ended up dead days later, but at that time the show thought the fact it offered 'a package of support' by which I guess they mean counselling or CBT to 'help with the stress' afterwards somehow made it OK what happened in the first place so ticked responsibilities.

I mention this because I think that this is at the heart of what is wrong with the system that has caused the problems for us. Even if any therapy they offered was good instead of harmful no therapy does more than help with coping and 'why someone would do that to you' and there is a justice issue before that. To use the existence of that as an excuse for not being careful, not leaving people in financial stress through lack of support or advocacy rather than claiming them being their and getting 'online CBT' is OK.

 

There is one editor for this special issue it seems:

Prof. Dr. Cleofas Rodriguez-Blanco
Guest Editor

Physiotherapy Department, Faculty of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Podiatry, University of Seville
Interests: physical therapy specialty; rehabilitation; coronavirus infections

I hope that this is OK to list the titles in this special issue? I just think that if this potentially gives their readers an idea of what the condition is/where the literature is heading then it is 'like begetting like' or giving a newbie potentially an idea of how the condition is treated or seen.


Impact of Spa Therapy on Symptoms and Quality of Life in Post-COVID-19 Patients with Chronic Conditions

Compassion Fatigue in a Cohort of South Italian Nurses and Hospital-Based Clinical Social Workers Following COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Physical Health in Patients with Post-COVID-19 6 and 12 Months after an Inpatient Rehabilitation: An Observational Stud


The Impact of Resistance Training on Equilibrium Abilities and Quality of Life in Older Adults after SARS-CoV-2 Survival

A Comparison of Sensorimotor Integration and Motor Fitness Components between Collegiate Athletes with and without Long COVID: A Cross-Sectional Study with Pair-Matched Controls


Resistance Exercise Program Is Feasible and Effective in Improving Functional Strength in Post-COVID Survivors


Improved Functioning and Activity According to the International Classification of Functioning and Disability after Multidisciplinary Telerehabilitation for Post-COVID-19 Condition—A Randomized Control Study

 

Agreed. I think there is a massive line between having it as a defined discussion for other things vs allowing these things to sneak in using the terms treatment, which feels like those doing it there is a bit of an agenda behind it.

Even the article says Quality of Life, and it isn't any kind of thing that could change the underlying condition. And any benefit would be individual and based on circumstances (does it even work) and whether more issues are created by doing it than not - a journey there, nevermind the sitting would make me very ill. Even if I could imagine teleporting into a nice hot bath in gorgeous settings right now would feel lovely, five mins in I'd probably struggle.

It's one of those things that like explaining to someone about 'doing something nice' turns out not to be nice because they have to imagine how much they enjoy a party when they have flu - so it isn't a 'mental health' thing and to stop being misogynist in having been trained into those tropes (as long as you say it with a patronising tone and 'nice' words it means it's said with good intentions needs to be banned, if you don't hear the reality in response it's hit-and-running someone with an insult/invalidation/won't hear what your living limitations are).

There might well be some who live around the corner from a hot baths type place, and are just the right amount of disabled that they can get there but aren't overwhelmed using all their energy on other obligations but the way these things are discussed are not appropriate. It's hilarious they get to use the word holistic when we all know these things might be offered not in a nice place, with a heck of a journey and without any note meaning someone who is working could do so during a quiet time - and we all need rest because we are normally over our maximum with obligations vs threshold.

This sort of thing feels far more appropriate for the specific group ie not long covid who have chronic pain related things but due to other issues also struggle with medications - ie not down to the health service to suggest 'instead of' like you hear with the nonsense 'visualising' because of disapproval but there might be people who are allergic, have specific health issues that precludes many painkillers to or themselves don't want to because of eg past addictions having this merely as a way of 'getting a break from' pain.

But I've watched these areas being allowed to get carried away with forcing it as a replacement without anywhere near the evidence-level drugs would need to have. Given it is pain, ongoing pain, that we are talking about it feels unconscionable and puzzles me how people who might have psychology backgrounds justify that cognitive dissonance given what poor management of in itself, nevermind gaslighting on top chronic pain would do to a human being.

And the massive issue with this area is they shouldn't be allowed the independence on how they do their literatures because their methods are crap to begin with and then they are allowed to 'generalise' these in how they get used for recommendations or initiatives, with no good mandate even if it hadn't been crap.

I've watched these things be done on the few that this works for (eg group described above) by recruiting 'do you benefit from hot salt baths' type ads, or not even that just that you'd have to think you'd like them and not find the travel more arduous to want to participate.

And that very skewed sample's results then being used to suggest that just because the niche they recruited all had x illness that means it is externally valid for all with x illness, when they really actually recruited based on 'do you respond well to y'.

And worse this then gets generalised to an excuse of suggesting people who don't have the specific conditions should be coping without what actually works for them - because apparently this works for some - and not even offering this, but some generalised 'near enough' idea like 'run your own hot bath'

 

Sometimes you just have to make bold statements like this. As in really those statements have to be made because holy damn do people get confused by basic stuff like this just because, pure coincidence, it mostly invalidates whatever it is they're doing.