By Lee Sung-hun
Patients visit their local traditional Korean clinics for many different ailments, but the most frequently sought-after treatment is probably for musculoskeletal issues.
Chuna chiropractic is a manual therapy just like the western chiropractic treatment that addresses such issues.
Chuna treatments date back millennia as records of them can be found in documents from over 2,200 years ago.
Breaking down the word “Chuna,” the first syllable, “Chu” means to push and the second, “Na” means to pull.
Literally, Chuna treatment means that the doctor “pushes and pulls” on misaligned body parts to adjust them for correct alignment, sometimes with the aid of equipment and at other times with bare hands and body weight.
Structurally, our body is formed by the muscles and tendons holding the bones as the framework.
If the bones are misaligned, the surrounding organs and tissues such as nerves and fascia become agitated, leading to tension and pain in the surrounding muscles and tendons.
Chuna treatment directly addresses these misalignments of the muscles and joints to correctly adjust them, and stimulates the corresponding nerves and fascia, improving the overall spinal functions.
Chuna chiropractic can be applied to a wide variety of musculoskeletal issues.
They include simple muscular pains in the back and neck area, sprains of ligaments, herniated cervical and lumbar discs, spinal stenosis, dislocation or subluxation of shoulder and hip joints and various other ailments.
Recently, traditional medicine has seen noticeable increase in patients seeking help for treating injuries from car accidents as insurance companies have allowed traditional treatment options to be covered by their policies.
Many of them include Chuna chiropractic as well as more conventional acupuncture and Hanyak medication, benefitting wider number of patients.
In addition, although it may seem unconventional, Chuna treatments can treat disorders of internal organs and nervous systems such as indigestion, chronic fatigue, constipation, incontinence, impotence, etc. that are caused by the functional decline of our internal systems.
To much of the general public, the word “chiropractic” immediately brings to mind images of their heads and legs man-handled and twisted about while clicking some joints with loud noises. Some become rather hesitant about receiving Chuna because they are afraid of precisely such treatments.
However, Chuna chiropractic has other means of treatments although it does involve applying direct force on the bones for correct alignment.
Other methods involve stimulating the soft tissues, i.e. muscles, fasciae and tendons to alleviate the limited functions of the spine and joints.
Such methods are gentle options that can be administered to the elderly and children as well as adults.
Chuna also includes exercise therapy to promote recovery of joint function, which means it can be a part of rehabilitation after injuries and surgeries.
During the adjustments, patients often ask about the clicking sounds they hear from their joints and bones.
In the joints that move, there is an articular capsule with viscous liquid called “synovial fluid” that act as lubricant between the two bones.
During the spinal manipulation, this articular capsule temporarily expands which lowers the internal pressure of the synovial fluid, making a gas bubble that makes the “clicking” sound upon collapsing.
This noise is not caused by fracturing of the bone or from colliding of the bones in the joint, and patients need not worry about it.
Currently, Chuna chiropractic falls in the unfortunate category of treatment options that are not covered by the National Health Insurance Services (NHIS), which means that patients opting for it must pay the full amount out of their own pockets.
However, a pilot project was launched in February to test the feasibility of NHIS covering Chuna as part of the treatment options.
Hopefully, this means that in the near future more of the general public can benefit from Chuna treatments to improve their overall health.
The writer practices Oriental medicine at the UN Oriental Medical Clinic in Hannam-dong, Seoul.