Long COVID Pharyngitis, Possible Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia, and Subluxation: A case report

A 79-year-old woman was seen 121 days after hospital admission for a severe episode of COVID-19. Her long COVID problems included fatigue, problems with long-term and short-term memory, dyspnea, and dryness in the mouth. She had a feeling of ‘razor blades’ in her throat that began at the onset of infection. This possibly neuralgic pain was thought by the patient to be ‘how the COVID began’. She also suffered from pharyngitis experienced as a constricted feeling in her throat. At presentation, reverse digit span was 4, and forced vital capacity was 1.7 litres. Chiropractic adjustments for the correction of vertebral, cranial, and upper extremity subluxations were administered for six visits over a period of four weeks. Adjunctive procedures included acupressure stimulation at the yin tang point during visits and oropharyngeal exercises as home care. During office visits, oropharyngeal exercises were combined with neurolymphatic stimulation for the sternocleidomastoid muscles. With the exception of fatigue, the patient reported improvement in general and across all other symptoms. Her forced vital capacity increased to 2.3 litres. Her reverse digit span increased to 5.