Wellness trends 2022: Health in focus in the age of Long Covid

Medi-spas and wellness clinics opened their doors to guests after lockdown with a range of new programmes designed to boost health and immunity

The Global Wellness Summit identified immune health as a key trend in its report, Future of Wellness 2021. Noting growth in the market, it also emphasised the need for evidence-backed approaches to immunity-boosting treatments with metabolic health, the gut microbiome and personalised nutrition leading the trend.

As medi-spas and wellness clinics around the world welcomed their returning guests, immunity-boosting therapies were in high demand, particularly for people suffering the ill effects of Long Covid. Fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, memory issues, depression, anxiety and insomnia are listed by the UK’s National Health Service as possible effects of this illness. A challenging condition to treat, leading medical-led spa and wellness properties worked to draw on their in-house medical expertise to introduce a series of symptom-specific retreats.

One of the first was the five-star Waldhotel Health & Medical Excellence at Bürgenstock Hotel & Resort in Switzerland, which launched a comprehensive Covid Bounce Back Programme. The centre combines Swiss medical expertise and state-of-the-art technology tailored to enable guests to recover post-pandemic and attain a more balanced and sustained level of personal health.

SHA Wellness Clinic in Spain unveiled a programme aimed at people experiencing lingering Covid-19 symptoms following historical diagnosis. An integrative approach to health overseen by the medical team has established different rehabilitation therapies and clinical treatments to address each persistent symptom on physical, immunological, respiratory, cognitive, digestive or emotional levels.

Cutting-edge therapies with proven effectiveness are applied, such as intravenous laser therapy, cryotherapy, stem-cell treatments, breathing techniques, reflexology, Watsu, isometric training, and specific nutrition.

Leading European medical wellbeing group Lanserhof introduced a series of packages designed to tackle Long Covid at its Austrian facility, Lanserhof Lans. Combining extensive diagnostics with exercise, fasting, nutritional supplementation and CellGym metabolic activation, the programmes are aimed at fighting neuro-inflammation.

Combining Traditional Thai Medicine and western medicine, RAKxa – an integrative wellness and medical retreat in Bangkok – has also launched a new package designed for Long Covid sufferers.

Meanwhile, Clinique La Prairie in Switzerland, Park Igls in Austria, Buchinger Wilhelmi in Germany and Chiva-Som in Thailand have all adapted their existing programmes and introduced new concepts and retreats to boost their guests’ health and immunity.

IMMUNE-BOOSTING PIONEERS

www.globalwellnesssummit.com www.buergenstock-waldhotel.ch www.shawellnessclinic.com www.lanserhof.com www.rakxawellness.com www.cliniquelaprairie.com www.park-igls.at www.buchinger-wilhelmi.com www.chivasom.com