Manipulative therapy

From ArticleWorld

This branch of alternative medicine, manipulative therapy covers many different schools of thought, each emphasizing their own techniques but all based on the principle that ill health can be treated by physically manipulating the body.

Some of the more common are:

• Acupressure – physical pressure is applied to various pressure points on the body. The idea is to manipulate the circulation of the blood and lymph and balance metabolic energies. It is considered an ancient practice and proof was found of this with Otzi, a 5000 year old iceman whose body, preserved in a glacier, had tattoos in the same pressure points we know today.

• Chiropractic medicine – based on the idea that spinal adjustments can prevent and treat disease. Practitioners consider that the brain and nervous system control body functions partly via the nerves branching out from the spinal chord.

• Massage therapy – works by applying pressure to the soft tissues of the body such as the muscles, tendons and joints. The process in considered to be working if the patient feels some discomfort as this is a signal that the body’s healing response has been activated.

• Osteopathy – this approach puts its emphasis on the neuromusculoskeletal system but modern practitioners also use drugs and surgery.

Other types of manipulative therapy include acupuncture, shiatsu – a massage technique using only the thumbs, palms and fingers – and Tui na – a Chinese manipulative therapy combining traction, massage and acupressure.