Ever heard of Chiropractic? It is a widely accepted system of alternative therapy in Western countries. However, it is still a relatively unknown health science in India. What exactly is Chiropractic or Chirotherapy? The word, Chiropractic is a combination of Practicose and Chiro which literally mean ‘Technique’ and ‘Hand’.

If your body structure is well balanced, disease will not strike you, states Chiropractor Tu Kyong Wu.

At the crux of the therapy is the objective of “Correction to reach the original point of equilibrium”. By applying impact to the special part by hand or by using our own body, the patient’s body is made to adjust and is thus released from pain and numbness, he explains. This manipulative therapy can cure spinal and nervous system disorders.

Why Chiropractic?
Our body is a well balanced structure. We must learn to respect it. Human beings (as well as animals) are properly structured and balanced by nature. However, our structure sometimes becomes “Double astern” creating difficulties in our body, asserts Kyong Wu.

Sometimes, we may not even feel pain, but the seeds of disease may have already been sown. Nowadays, especially in cities, most people have health–related complaints because they are out of touch with nature and not working in tandem with it. In the long run, our bodies tend to adapt to the postures or habits that are otherwise not quite appropriate to its structure, or the way it is made causing physical changes in it.

Chirotherapy can control, diagnose and treat most ailments, Kyong Wu states. Every illness is associated with an individual arrangement in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions of the vertebrae. Blood pressure, obesity, asthma, diabetes, low backache, spondylitis or sciatica, to name a few, can be cured with the help of chiropractic correction.

Arthritis for example is linked to Thoracic–12. Cancer too has a basis in the nervous system. In the US, there have been instances when bone cancer has been treated successfully using chiropractic.

Chiropractic manipulation can even control skin diseases, it is claimed. People who wish to improve their eyesight can also avail of the therapy. There have been many post–therapy cases when patients have stopped using spectacles altogether, reveals Kyong Wu.

An individualized therapy
A good chiropractor is even able to tell if the patient’s hormone secretion is balanced, says Kyong Wu. Noting the patient’s gait while walking, how he sits, what is his mental condition, together with ascertaining what his problem is, form the essence of the investigation. This also helps the chiropractor to decide if his patient’s habits need any regulation or modification, and to what extent.

Take the case of a patient who suffers from asthma. During stressful conditions, the sympathetic nervous system is active. If the patient is also hypertensive, he will tend to overeat, gain weight and worsen his condition. Therefore, one part of the correction therapy includes finding out if the exercise and diet schedule given is right, and whether the exercise regimen doesn’t lead to an increase in appetite.

“We understand chiropractic through eastern ideas and combine it with yoga, points out Kyong Wu. Like in other alternative therapies, in the case of chirotherapy also we prescribe food therapy and a particular exercise regimen which must be followed by the patient”, he stressed. “When patients come to us, we hope they will be responsible and do their part. But, quite often, this does not happen, and patients falter or even discard the prescribed regimen altogether”, he laments.

The chiropractic procedure
The patient may require anything from one session to a number of sessions over say, three weeks to over three months. Conditions like sclerosis may take longer to cure depending on the patient’s muscle tone or the nature of his ligaments/tendons, and whether the patient is heavy, light or of medium bearing.

Depending on what is required, during correction, the sitting or lying down or standing positions may be adopted. Similarly, either a hard or soft technique could be used. Aggressive manipulation is used in case of the former, while the latter which involves a milder manipulation, could be employed in some cases.

The age of the patient is also a factor to consider. “Unlike youngsters, the body structure of older people is very weak. Therefore, a step–by–step trial method may be used”, he states adding, “In the case of children and senior people, the soft technique is adopted”.

‘Support’ is a part of the soft technique, when corrective measures are, for instance, applied to the shoulders instead of directly to the neck where it may actually be required.Quite often, people opt for alternative forms of treatment after suffering for a long period of time or after surgery for that matter. Surgery must be used only as the last resort as often the patient’s condition worsens after surgery, Kyong Wu asserts. The therapy is not administered to people who have undergone surgery.

Are there any side–effects to the treatment? Sometimes, diagnosis and treatment can go wrong if the chiropractor is not an expert in his technique, he cautions.

Right to choose
Chiropractic is an aggressive and a more detailed technique developed from European Osteopathy, and was first practiced in the late 18th century. Today, in the US, chiropractors work side by side with allopathic doctors.

By itself, any one alternative therapy is limited, points out Tu Kyong Wu. Combining the best aspects of one science with other therapies and allopathic medicine could help overcome the limitations. To rid illness wholly from the body, the use of allopathic pharmacy is essential, he maintains.

In India, doctors do not offer a choice of other therapies to their patients, he laments. Ideally, an Ayurvedic doctor must know something about homeopathy, naturopathy and allopathy.

Most Indians are not aware of what chiropractic is in spite of the deep–rooted philosophical convictions about maintaining the equilibrium between the body and soul, bemoans Kyong Wu. In Vedic times, people were more in tune with nature which is why they were much healthier. They had fewer health problems because they ate simple food, woke up at sunrise and slept at sunset.