Is the ASM Long COVID protocol effective?
Our two preliminary studies were not designed to investigate the efficacy of the Axial Stability Method (ASM) protocol for Long COVID. The studies were small, and they were done without controls. So they do not enable us to conclude that the ASM protocol caused the improvements that our study participants reported.
But it is entirely possible that the protocol was effective in helping them recover. A larger clinical trial would make it possible to begin to answer the question of efficacy. We hope to have the opportunity to do that trial, but in the meantime, these patient-reported outcomes are very promising.
But it is entirely possible that the protocol was effective in helping them recover. A larger clinical trial would make it possible to begin to answer the question of efficacy. We hope to have the opportunity to do that trial, but in the meantime, these patient-reported outcomes are very promising.
How might the ASM protocol help Long COVID?
One of the most notable features of our two studies is that many different symptoms improved while participants were receiving the same treatment protocol. This is an interesting finding. It invites the question of whether the disparate and seemingly unrelated Long COVID symptoms experienced by our 13 study participants had a common cause, and whether the ASM protocol somehow had an effect on that common cause.
There are multiple possible causes of Long COVID that have been identified in the research literature: viral reservoirs, latent herpes virus reactivations, micro clots, inflammation, immune dysregulation, and autonomic nervous system dysregulation (dysautonomia). “Long COVID” is almost certainly an umbrella term, and different cases of Long COVID can have different causes.
If the ASM protocol is indeed having an effect on a common cause of Long COVID, we do not know which cause or causes it is affecting. But of the possible causes of Long COVID that have been proposed, it seems to us that the ASM protocol is most plausibly affecting dysautonomia.
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls many bodily functions - blood pressure, heart/respiration rates, temperature regulation, digestion/elimination, reproduction, etc. Because it regulates so many things, disruption to the ANS can cause hundreds of disparate symptoms, including many of the symptoms associated with Long COVID.
Heart rate variability is an indicator of ANS function. In our two preliminary studies, we gathered heart rate variability and continuous blood pressure data to begin to investigate whether the ASM Long COVID protocol affects the ANS. Some of our data appears to suggest that the protocol did affect ANS function in a positive way, but other data is less clear. More data is needed before we can begin to draw conclusions about whether there is a relationship between the ASM protocol and ANS function. For more discussion, see our two studies:
There are multiple possible causes of Long COVID that have been identified in the research literature: viral reservoirs, latent herpes virus reactivations, micro clots, inflammation, immune dysregulation, and autonomic nervous system dysregulation (dysautonomia). “Long COVID” is almost certainly an umbrella term, and different cases of Long COVID can have different causes.
If the ASM protocol is indeed having an effect on a common cause of Long COVID, we do not know which cause or causes it is affecting. But of the possible causes of Long COVID that have been proposed, it seems to us that the ASM protocol is most plausibly affecting dysautonomia.
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls many bodily functions - blood pressure, heart/respiration rates, temperature regulation, digestion/elimination, reproduction, etc. Because it regulates so many things, disruption to the ANS can cause hundreds of disparate symptoms, including many of the symptoms associated with Long COVID.
Heart rate variability is an indicator of ANS function. In our two preliminary studies, we gathered heart rate variability and continuous blood pressure data to begin to investigate whether the ASM Long COVID protocol affects the ANS. Some of our data appears to suggest that the protocol did affect ANS function in a positive way, but other data is less clear. More data is needed before we can begin to draw conclusions about whether there is a relationship between the ASM protocol and ANS function. For more discussion, see our two studies: