With COVID cases still rising in lots of areas the world over, we’re learning more about long COVID. Since the virus is latest and long COVID impacts people in different ways, there’s no one-size-fits-all treatment. This is probably why many patients are turning to alternative medicine. More specifically: long COVID wellness retreats and the growing wellness travel market.

In accordance with guidance for UK health workers, long COVID is characterised by symptoms continuing for greater than 12 weeks after a COVID-19 infection (severe or mild) which may’t be explained by one other cause. For some, this may be extreme tiredness and shortness of breath, for others this may include problems with memory and concentration – generally known as ‘brain fog’. Long COVID travel retreats claim to help with the management of those systems, with the aim of strengthening your immune system again (in between pool visits and other holiday activities).

At Vivamayr Medical Resorts – which has two resort locations in Austria – there’s a “post-COVID” program to get your body “stabilised and strengthened”. The services range from medical exams to individual weight-reduction plan plans to heated mud beds and yoga.

The web site also mentions fasting or reducing food intake to strengthen the immune system, which is something the girlboss of wellness culture Gwyneth Paltrow said she was using to treat her long COVID symptoms – a claim that was condemned by the NHS. Then there’s Park Igls, one other health retreat in Austria that guarantees to “assist you to get back in your feet after corona”, with treatments including personal training, body massages, and “liver compresses with beeswax”.

The 2-week program at Vivamayr will set you back €5,470 (£4.7k), while the Park Igls program starts at €3,571 (£3k). The irony of this high price point isn’t lost. The image of well-off people running off to long COVID retreats while essential employees proceed to contract and die from COVID – especially when travel restrictions globally are making it costlier and difficult to travel than ever before – looks like disaster capitalism at its finest. But could these retreats actually work?

Dr David Strain, who’s playing a number one role within the British Medical Association’s (BMA) COVID response, and who’s researching long COVID as a part of his job as a senior clinical lecturer on the University of Exeter Medical School, says he’s not against long COVID patients incorporating wellness practices into their treatment, so long as it’s not a substitute for medical advice.

“From what we’ve seen, certainly one of the primary things to reveal advantages in long COVID was respiratory exercises like singing lessons or yoga,” he tells Dazed Beauty. 

Dr Strain encourages patients to try the choice techniques that they consider work for them, alongside medical treatment, and desires patients to “come back and tell your doctor” in the event that they find something that works. “Some people have come back and said yoga worked for them, but these are very small numbers so not enough to alter practice yet,” Dr Strain says. He does warn, nevertheless, that among the wellness treatments like acupuncture usually are not going to be a cure. “I’m not aware of any research that claims it could actually reduce inflammatory responses, nevertheless it could teach you techniques of energy management.”

Andrew Barnard, deputy managing director of Sunswept Resorts, says that to date he has seen about 50 or 60 people through the COVID Convalescence Programme offered at the Bodyholiday Resort in St Lucia. The “non-medical programme” goals to strengthen the respiratory system to help recovery and general respiratory health, with treatments including yoga, Reiki, Manual Lymphatic Drainage, hypnotherapy, and osteopathy. He expects this interest to proceed to grow within the post-pandemic landscape. The offerings start at $800 (£588) per person.

“If we are able to get to a position where we discover the weather of long COVID retreats that are the actual advantages – not only wealthy people on a vacation – then we are able to actually determine ways to bring that to the masses” – Dr David Strain

Beyond physical signs of improvement, Bodyholiday has also tapped into an area that’s a very important a part of recovery for a lot of: spirituality. “We’re going to see more people in search of self care inside their vacations and leisure time, wanting to have a glass of wine and dance at night, but in addition rise up and do a beach bootcamp and meditate,” Barnard says. “Individuals are searching for more meaning in the mean time, something they’ll hold onto and be a part of, and my mission is to strengthen that for people and help them forge their very own sense of purpose.”

Dr. Strain says essentially the most impactful a part of the retreats themselves may be within the downtime itself. “The important thing elements of a retreat are literally the flexibility to go away, chill out, and take some down time,” says Dr. Strain, emphasising that that is crucial to COVID recovery. For those without the means or the time, he recommends spending a minimum of 10 minutes a day to concentrate on something that you just find is helpful, whether that’s respiratory exercises or yoga on YouTube.

“If we are able to get to a position where we discover the weather of long COVID retreats that are the actual advantages – not only wealthy people on a vacation – then we are able to actually determine ways to bring that to the masses,” he says.

Whether post-COVID wellness retreats are disaster capitalism or not is nearly inappropriate, because the travel industry is sure to adapt to a volatile market. So, too, is whether or not or not everyone believes in the advantages. Because while we are able to’t all escape to a luxury post COVID wellness program, it’s clear that those scuffling with long COVID need the retreat to return to them, through leave from work and assistance at home.

This may not be possible for everybody, nevertheless it needs to be the core root of incorporating more wellness ideas into traditional medicine. In any case, the core takeaway from these retreats is the offering of something only the privileged can currently get their hands on but all of us desperately need: rest.