Uecker, Christine, Schlee, Christoph, Utz, Sandra et al. · Frontiers in public health · 2025 · DOI
This study looked at whether a combined treatment program could help people with Post-COVID syndrome (including severe cases similar to ME/CFS). Twenty patients participated in an 11-week day clinic program that used multiple approaches like physical therapy, nutrition, stress management, and mental health support. Patients reported feeling significantly better after the program, with improvements in fatigue, pain, and their ability to cope with daily activities.
ME/CFS and severe Post-COVID lack curative treatments and have unknown causes, making multimodal symptom management approaches an important clinical avenue. This study provides patient-centered evidence that integrative programs can improve quality of life and reduce symptom burden, potentially informing rehabilitation strategies for similar post-viral conditions.
This study does not prove the multimodal program is superior to other treatments, as it lacked a control group for qualitative comparison. It cannot establish which specific program components drove improvements, and self-reported improvements are not validated by objective clinical measures or biomarkers. The findings cannot be generalized beyond the 20 participants studied.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Uecker, Christine, Schlee, Christoph, Utz, Sandra, Schmid, Sarah, & Langhorst, Jost (2025). Integrative multimodal treatment approach for patients suffering from Post-COVID syndrome: a study based on qualitative interviews with individuals participating in an 11-week day clinic program.. Frontiers in public health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1688592
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-uecker-2025-integrative-multimodal,
author = {Uecker, Christine and Schlee, Christoph and Utz, Sandra and Schmid, Sarah and Langhorst, Jost},
title = {Integrative multimodal treatment approach for patients suffering from Post-COVID syndrome: a study based on qualitative interviews with individuals participating in an 11-week day clinic program.},
journal = {Frontiers in public health},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.3389/fpubh.2025.1688592},
note = {PubMed: 41415232},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/uecker-2025-integrative-multimodal},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/uecker-2025-integrative-multimodal
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