All symptoms of "Post-Corona Syndrome" and "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome," which afflict more than 100 million people worldwide, have disappeared. All symptoms of "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" disappeared

Japan Health Organization, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima University (Location: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Takashi Sakado), together with the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima University, has published a paper on "Kanshoho," a muscle relaxation technique using low pressure stimulation that has eliminated all symptoms of "post-corona syndrome" and "chronic fatigue syndrome," in Explore: published online March 2, 2026 in The Journal of Science and Healing, Vol. 22 (2026) 103374.

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■Background: Long COVID and ME/CFS as a Global Medical Challenge

Long COVID (post-coronary syndrome) is characterized by a wide variety of symptoms that persist for months to years after SARS-CoV-2 infection and affects about 36% of infected people (estimated at over 100 million worldwide). The economic cost of the disease is reported to be as high as $1 trillion per year, making it one of the most important issues in modern medicine.

PEM is one of the most common disorders in the world, and is a common cause of death and disability. PEM is exacerbated by even the slightest physical or mental strain, making general rehabilitation with exercise therapy difficult in many cases, and effective treatment options remain limited.

Research Summary: All symptoms disappear with low-impact intervention, "Laxative Method

A research group from the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima University, and the Japan Health Organization conducted a study in which a 41-year-old female patient (a health care professional) who met the diagnostic criteria for Long COVID and ME/CFS used the "Kanshoho" muscle relaxation technique with low pressure stimulation as the main intervention. The Kanshoho technique is a muscle relaxation technique using low-pressure stimulation.

Kanshoho is a non-invasive muscle relaxation technique (developed in 2007) originated in Japan that applies an extremely low load of approximately 5N (about one finger) locally with a single finger. A total of 10 sessions of 15 min/session were performed (about 2.5 months), focusing on the posterior neck area.

Changes before and after treatment

■Points of Interest: Why is this study important?

●For the first time, Long COVID/ME/CFS demonstrated the clinical significance of a low-load (approximately 5N) technique that allows intervention without physical strain in patients with PEM complications who have few treatment options.

Local (posterior neck) intervention improved systemic symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, numbness, and insomnia, which may lead to a better understanding of the autonomic nervous system, cervical lymphatic drainage, and other neural mechanisms.

The patient did not experience any exacerbation of symptoms after gradual reduction or discontinuation of drug therapy (sertraline), and remained in remission at 6-month follow-up, and was able to reintegrate into society (changed jobs, moved to a new location).

Published in an international journal (Elsevier) and freely viewable and citable worldwide under a CC BY 4.0 license

Limitations of the Study and Future Prospects

This report is based on a single case and does not establish a causal relationship between treatment effects. Involvement of spontaneous remission, placebo effect, or treatment relationship cannot be excluded, and objective physiological evaluations (e.g., cardiopulmonary exercise testing) were not performed. The research group stated that further validation through prospective clinical trials with a control group is needed.

Paper Information

Title of paper: Resolution of Long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms following kanshoho, a low-pressure muscle relaxation technique: A case report

Author : Haruka Amitani, Takashi Sakato, Akihiro Asakawa

Journal : Explore : The Journal of Science and Healing, Vol. 22 (2026) 103374

Published online: March 2, 2026

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.explore.2026.103374

URL of the article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550830726000613

*This press release may be cited or reproduced for news and research purposes. The paper is published under the CC BY 4.0 license and may be freely used provided the source is acknowledged.