THE Covid long would affect 10% of infected people, i.e. 250,000 to 300,000 in France. The most common symptoms encountered are fatigue which can be severe, neurological disorders (cognitive, sensory, headache), cardio-thoracic disorders (chest pain and tightness, tachycardia, dyspnea, cough) or even smell and taste disorders. Pain, digestive and skin disorders are also common.
“Some of these symptoms (chronic fatigue, lack of muscle strength, joint pain, respiratory and ENT disorders and digestive disorders) are similar to those we treat in spa treatments for other pathologies.“, says Nathalie Négro, head of the nutritional center of the Brides-les-Bains thermal baths and coordinator of the therapeutic education program for the resorts of Brides-Les-Bains and Allevard.
“Skin problems are also the responsibility of thermal medicine“, adds Anne-Laure Blasiak, customer manager and protocol manager for the post-Covid cure at the Molitg-Les-Bains thermal baths. 19. The therapeutic orientations of post-Covid spa treatments offer rheumatology, dermatology and work on the respiratory tract.”The waters of Molitg-les-Bains help relieve rheumatic pain, restore joint flexibility and agility and restore the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract“, informs Anne-Laure Blasiak.
“At the Allevard thermal baths, we will more specifically treat fatigue and chronic pain, in particular thanks to our long-standing expertise in fibromyalgia. In Brides-les-Bains, we support people who suffer from a decline in sports performance or who suffer from eating or digestive disorders“, explains Nathalie Négro. These spa treatments also allow people with symptoms of long Covid to rest, to get out of their daily lives and above all to share with people with the same symptoms as them as well as with professionals trained in the subject. “This support is also important on a psychological level because these people who feel abandoned are recognized“, emphasizes Anne-Laure Blasiak.
What programs offer post-Covid spa treatments?
Today, several spas offer long post-Covid cures : it is thus possible to follow one at the thermal baths of Molitg-Les-Bains (Pyrénées Orientales-Occitanie) or a therapeutic education program at the thermal baths of Allevard and Brides-Les-Bains. Pure thermal treatments are associated with workshops and adapted physical activities (APA), as well as yoga, sophrology, remobilization of the sense of smell, dietetics, group discussion sessions, meditation, music therapy. … The thermal baths of Allevard and Brides-Les-Bains offer a therapeutic education program which takes place over 9 days, during a three-week cure. It includes two individual interviews with a dietitian-sports educator trained in therapeutic education, three collective workshops of your choice (expressing yourself around your post-Covid experience, sharpening your senses, etc.), eight adapted physical activity sessions , one in free access combining endurance, muscle strengthening and stretching, four sessions to learn how to breathe, relax, refocus. “This therapeutic education program is validated by the ARS“, underlines the manager Nathalie Négro.
The Molitg-Les-Bains spa treatment includes a program of 4 to 6 spa treatments, a discussion group session led by a psychologist, 6 specific physical activities, 6 workshops or targeted activities (sophrology, meditation, music therapy …)
Covid-long spa treatments: what results?
Long Covid spa treatments are recent but the first results of the treatments are positive. “People who followed the long post-Covid rehabilitation at Molitg-Les-Bains thermal baths indicated that they were less tired, had less pain and better breathing“, tells us Anne-Laure Blasiak. The follow-up over 6 months of 22 people who followed one of the 3 sessions of the therapeutic education program for people with long Covid or post-Covid at the thermal baths of Allevard and Brides-Les- Bains also draws a positive balance.
During the post-treatment interview, the spa guests declared having noticed an immediate improvement in less than a week in the event of shortness of breath and regained energy. “Follow-up 6 months after the cure showed that out of 22 participants, 15 were able to resume physical activity, 7 were able to return to work part-time or full-time, 10 improved their diet. In addition, for half of them, this treatment was a springboard for daring to see specialists (pulmonologist, speech therapist, psychologist) or to enter into long Covid follow-up protocols at the hospital.“, details Nathalie Negro.
“What the curists tell us is that they appreciate leaving the cure with tools, for example cardiac coherence, food management to make meals taking into account their digestive disorders“, she adds.
Post-Covid spa treatments: price and reimbursement
Spa treatments 18 days are covered by the Health Insurance but not specific programs.
The long post-Covid rehabilitation offered by the thermal baths of Molitg-Les-Bains includes an 18-day approved spa treatment oriented rheumatology and / or respiratory tract with a cost from €595.40 covered up to 65% by Health Insurance, a medical follow-up package (€80 or €120 depending on 1 or 2 orientations – 70% covered by Health Insurance) and a specific post-Covid rehabilitation module at €295 for 15 targeted activities and consultations. The latter is not covered by health insurance.
The therapeutic education program at the thermal baths of Allevard and Brides-Les-Bains is carried out in addition to a spa treatment approved for the digestive system and metabolic diseases (AD) and/or rheumatology (RH) at the thermal baths of Brides-Les- Baths and in addition to the approved rheumatology thermal cure and/or the approved respiratory tract thermal cure at the Allevard thermal baths, these approved thermal treatments being covered up to 65% by Health Insurance. Its cost is 300 €. The short cures of 6 and 9 days of the therapeutic education program for people with long Covid or post-Covid have a cost of 700€ (Brides) and 725€ (Allevard) and 940€ (Brides) and 965€ respectively ( Allevard) not supported.
Source :
- Results of the 1st program specifically developed to treat after Covid (press release), Thermes de Brides-les-Bains and Allevard, February 2022
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