Manipulative therapy involves use of body work or massage therapy and other physical manipulation of the body for healing, such as osteopathy, and chiropractic.

A survey released in May 2004 (http://nccam.nih.gov/news/2004/052704.htm) by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine focused on who used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), what was used, and why it was used in the United States by adults age 18 years and over during 2002. According to this recent survey, manipulative therapy was the 3rd most commonly used NCCAM (http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/) classification of CAM categories (10.9%) in the United States during 2002 ([1] (http://nccam.nih.gov/news/report.pdf) table 4 on page 10) when all use of prayer was excluded. Consistent with previous studies, this study found that the majority of individuals (i.e., 54.9%) used CAM in conjunction with conventional medicine (page 6).

There are many different styles of manipulative therapy. It is a fundamental feature of ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine and some other forms of alternative medicine as well as being used by mainstream medical practitioners. In one form or another it is probably as old as human culture itself and is a feature to some degree of therapeutic interactions in traditional cultures around the world. It may rely partially upon the placebo effect and can be effective in providing both short and long term relief.

Different forms of manipulative therapy are available to choose from.

• Acupressure
• Body work
• Bone setting
• Bowen Technique
• Chiropractic medicine
• Massage therapy
• Medical acupuncture
• Osteopathy
• Pushing hands
• Rolfing
• Seitai or Japanese bone setting
• Shiatsu
• Tui na
• Zeng Gu or Chinese bone setting (http://www.taichimontreal.com/english/qigong-eng.html)

See also

Acupuncture, Qigong

Further Reading

• Manipulative Therapy in Rehabilitation of the Locomotor System, 3rd edition, Karel Lewit, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999, paperback, 346 pages, ISBN 0750629649

External Links

• Case study of successful treatment using manipulative therapy (http://www.webhealth.co.uk/Complementary_Health/Case_Histories_In_Complementar/Case_Histories_Manipulative_Th/case_histories_manipulative_th.html)