Post-Covid syndrome: Possible positive effects of whole-body hyperthermia

Artificially increasing body temperature is a therapeutic approach that aims to stimulate the human immune system and activate self-healing. A retrospective analysis of patients gives hope that this approach can be applied systematically in patients with post-Covid syndrome.

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Hyperthermia treatment supports the physiological functions of immunocompetent cells and intra- and extracellular regeneration. Anthroposophic Medicine has many decades of experience with this form of treatment, particularly in cancer patients. Whole-body hyperthermia is a specific approach involving a controlled increase in body temperature to at least 38.5 degrees Celsius and up to 40.5 degrees Celsius. The method is established today in hospitals practising integrative medicine and is used, for instance, to treat fibromyalgia, depression and neurodegenerative diseases.

A retrospective analysis examined the course of the disease in hospitalized patients with post-Covid syndrome who received whole-body hyperthermia as part of a multimodal therapy concept. The therapeutic rationale for its use was based on the immune system dysregulation and symptoms such as fibromyalgia-like pain, exhaustion and depression that often persist in post-Covid syndrome. Hardly any scientific data has so far been available on this.

The hyperthermia treatment was offered to research participants at the anthroposophic Paracelsus Hospital in Unterlengenhardt, Germany, and was supplemented by conventional and anthroposophic medical interventions. The effectiveness of whole-body hyperthermia was assessed using specific patient questionnaires and the collection of clinical data both at the time of hospital admission and four weeks after discharge. Overall, the results of this case series show a health improvement that is in some cases significant. Of the patients surveyed, 63 per cent identified the whole-body hyperthermia treatment as effective. The study therefore provides initial evidence of potentially positive effects of whole-body hyperthermia in post-Covid syndrome as part of a multimodal therapeutic approach (Jan Vagedes et al, 2025).

In addition, the Care Group of the Goetheanum’s Medical Section working on Infectious Diseases and Fever Management has published anthroposophic treatment options for post-Covid and post-vaccine syndrome on the specialist portal Anthromedics (Harald Matthes et al). Aside from advice on drugs it also offers recommendations from anthroposophic nursing and anthroposophic therapies.

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