Fix your back, fight the flu
by Richard Seah
Among alternative, natural treatments for the flu, probably the most surprising are osteopathy and chiropractic. These are manipulation therapies where all the practitioner does is make some adjustments to re-align your bone structure. They are most commonly sought for aches and pain.
I made a surprising discovery back in 2005 when I had a bad flu (H1N1 wasn’t active then but the scare at that time was over the bird flu) and my osteopath friend remarked that I “didn’t trust him”.
I was taken aback. What did he mean? “You never come to me for treatment,” he said. “Don’t you know that osteopathy is very effective for treating the flu?”
Sorry, no. Although I knew the osteopath for 16 years, I never knew that osteopathy could treat the flu. I decided to give it a try. Within minutes, my breathing became deeper, my cough became shallower, I started feeling very much better.
Some weeks later, I was surfing the Internet when I found an article about osteopathy and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918:
The mortality rate in US medical hospitals fell between 30 percent and 40 percent, with the exception of a rate of 68 percent in medical hospitals in New York City…
The American School of Osteopathy, now the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine of A. T. Still University of Health Sciences, in Kirksville, MO, contacted all their alumni. This effort culminated in 2,445 osteopaths responding in treating 110,122 patients with influenza, with a resulting mortality of 0.25 percent. One of the few osteopathic medical hospitals, 400-bed Massachusettes Osteopathic Hospital, in Boston, also reported a mortality of 0.25 percent for that period.
I searched chiropractic, which is similar to osteopathy, and found this:
Chiropractors at the Palmer School of Chiropractic adjusted 1,635 cases, with only one death. Outside Davenport, chiropractors in Iowa cared for 4,735 cases with only six deaths – one out of 866. During the same epidemic, in Oklahoma, out of 3,490 flu patients under chiropractic care, there were only seven deaths. It was chiropractic’s success in caring for flu victims that led to the profession’s licensure in many states.
The idea that adjusting the body – particularly the spine – can fight the flu might seem far fetched. But not if you understand the basic tenet of osteopathy and chiropractic: “structure governs function”. It means that the structure of the body influences the function of the body and its many systems, including the immune system. By restoring the structure of the body to its optimal balance, all the various body functions – including immune function – will get better. And natural immunity is the most powerful weapon against the flu, more so than any man-made drug!
This idea is not new. About 2,400 years ago, Hippocrates said: “Look to the spine for the cause of disease.” Also, many Eastern forms of martial arts and health practices, including yoga, taiqi, qigong, karate, aikido, etc, emphasise the importance of keeping the spine straight.
Is it scientific? A “partial list” compiled by the World Chiropractic Alliance cites 109 scientific references linking osteopathic / chiropractic treatment to improved immune function.
Fixing the back is, of course, not the only way to boost immunity and fight the flu. I highlight it because it seems so unlikely, yet has an impressive track record.
As John Yeo pointed out in an earlier article, homeopathy, too, has a proven track record, with a mortality rate of only about 1 percent during the Spanish flu outbreak. There are lots and lots of other ways to build up immunity and prevent as well as fight the flu. It is not difficult to find them. We need only to look outside the box called “medical science”.
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