Chiropractic treatment

After a long walk to the inauguration of President Duterte in 2016 in Congress, I developed a pain on my right leg. I thought it would go away in time but it did not only not go away, it also gave me a broken knee. The right leg was explained by doctors as a genetic disease called osteoporosis but they could not explain how the left knee was affected.

A team of doctors looked at the problem but nothing could be done except to wait to be cured with ointments and physical therapy. That was almost a year ago and I was resigned to walk with a pusher after weeks of treatment by traditional doctors.

But days ago I had lunch at my sister’s house and she introduced me to a guest – Dr. Martin Camara. He said he was a chiropractor and that his clinic was Intercare with a branch in Alabang. I wanted to try it not knowing what it was all about.

I went to Intercare in Alabang, more as an adventure rather than with the hope of being cured. I Googled what chiropractic treatment was all about. It said: “Chiropractic adjustment is a procedure in which trained specialists (chiropractors) use their hands or a small instrument to apply a controlled, sudden force to a spinal joint. The goal of this procedure, also known as spinal manipulation, is to improve spinal motion and improve your body’s physical function.”

He set a program for me after testing the strength or weakness of my hand and foot because of the injury.

Then said he said, “Lucky you, no joints are broken.” It was a case of aligning muscle and bone (I think that is what he said).

I have had three treatments for a six-week program and I have reached a strength when I am now trying to walk without a pusher. The first physical therapies were painful but as the saying goes – no pain, no gain. After the therapy comes a laser treatment to alleviate the pain and get the healing into the cells for a deep cure.

I thought more people who have similar problems, especially with the spine, should know about this non-traditional treatment hence I am writing this article. It works and I do not drink any medicine, but just a combination of physical therapy and laser treatment. So when I interviewed him, the first question I asked was how he became a chiropractor.

His reply surprised me because his answer seemed so distant from Intercare Clinic in Alabang. He said he was inspired by the Okinawans and their lifestyle, which stayed close to nature and they lived long and healthy lives.

For every 100,000 inhabitants, Okinawa has 68 centenarians – more than three times the numbers found in US populations of the same size. Even by the standards of Japan, Okinawans are remarkable, with a 40 percent greater chance of living to 100 than other Japanese.

The search for the “elixir of youth” has spanned centuries and continents – but recently, the hunt has centered on the Okinawa Islands, which stretch across the East China Sea. Not only do the older inhabitants enjoy the longest life expectancy of anyone on Earth, but the vast majority of those years are lived in remarkably good health too. Natural was the magic word.

Martin took this lesson to heart, and when he returned to the Philippines in the 1990s, he established Intercare, which indeed became a pioneer in Complementary Alternative Medicine, integrating chiropractic, acupuncture, myotherapy (muscle therapy), Pilates, with traditional medical specialties.

Treatments are non-surgical and non-invasive. His father was patient number 1.

He treats not only people with bone problems like me but also a wide assortment of people who want to be healthy and strong through chiropractic treatment. It is becoming widely known as a successful practice in the Philippines and has been published in the World Federation of Chiropractic Journal this January 2021.

Aside from athletes, Intercare has a lot of private and corporate clients, not just in the clinics in Makati, Greenhills and Alabang, but also in the satellite units.

“Health care now goes to the people,” says Martin. “We tie up with a company for x hours, which is cheaper than per visit. We go to them for x hours a week and treat their employees. Our equipment is portable. Good companies invest in the health of their workers.”

Today, Martin does not just adjust his clients’ bodies, but also discusses holistic health with them.

“I am active, I love sports.”

Why chiropractic, instead of orthopedic or rehabilitation medicine?

Martin took pre-med, but he also wanted to be a pioneer. “If I had gone into traditional medicine, it would have taken a lot more years” with medicine proper, specializations, boards, etc.

“Besides, the senior specialists already had networks. I wanted to establish myself quickly, and to bring in the international expertise needed here.”

It is also about rehab and sports medicine.

Physical medicine aims to enhance and restore the quality of life. It emphasizes on prevention, diagnosis and treatment of different disorders. Our rehab medicine specialists will prescribe medications if and when needed. However, we always give priority to health and integrated solutions that take advantage of the human body’s wondrous ability to heal itself.

The Intercare rehabilitative medicine involves:

Evaluating the acute or chronic pain situation, Identifying the bodily imbalances underlying that pain, Recommending a treatment that will bring the body back into its natural balance, Offering a program of different exercises and techniques to incorporate in your daily routine.

Sports medicine specializes in dealing with physical fitness, recovery and prevention of sports-related injuries. The focus goes on keeping the body healthy and enhancing performance. Athletes many times suffer from different disorders such as repetitive stress injuries, musculoskeletal tension, back pain, shoulder pain, tendonitis, in between others. These problems may cause a decrease in performance or inability to participate in sports.

Chiropractic is a pseudoscientific complementary and alternative medicine that is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially the spine (sourced from Wikipedia).

Contact Intercare at 890-3378 (Makati), 724-6631 (Greenhills) or 807-6863 (Alabang). Visit Intercare at www.intercare-centers.com.