As a holistic occupational therapist who uses modalities of craniosacral and visceral therapy—and someone who personally has been navigating long COVID for 4 years with breathing difficulties, I deeply appreciate the complexities of long covid symptoms and systemic inflammation. A critical piece in treatment I have discovered in both my healing journey and in treating others is the role of treating the often overlooked thoracic ligaments related to the pericardium. Long COVID

Our nervous system is in a continual state of internal contraction and expansion. In contraction, our body up-regulates into sympathetic response, with blood rushing to muscles to energize and mobilize us. Then, in expansion our body down-regulates into a parasympathetic, restful state. This is an automatic, harmonic balance within us.   This rhythm is also noted in our breathing. When we inhale our heart rate (HR) increases and we go into a sympathetic or more energized stat