Traditional bone-setting
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (February 2010) |
A bonesetter is a practitioner of joint manipulation. Before the advent of chiropractors, osteopaths and physical therapists, bonesetters were the main providers of this type of treatment in the world[1]. Bonesetters would also reduce joint dislocations and 're-set' bone fractures.
The original spinal adjustment was a variation of a procedure known today as spinal manipulation. This form of treatment has documented use as far back as Hippocrates, the ancient Egyptians and Asian cultures and was carried through the ages by families of bonesetters. The modern form of spinal manipulation techniques have characteristic biomechanical features, and are usually associated with an audible "popping" sound.
The Middle Ages development of bone setters was within a body well regulated in the form of the bonesetters guild; this guild served as a means of training, disciplining, adjudicating and mastering its craft. The bonesetters guild records were held in Austria and surrounding towns, and was generally opposite the physicians guild, due to their closeness in cooperation.
The mainstay of the craft was seven-year apprenticeships by boys 12–17 who lived within guild huts and travelled with master craftsmen to spend time with various teachers. It derived its training from the Roman and Greek "skeleton men" and the ancient Egyptian "men of the hands". They entered university training along with physicians four hundred years before medical practitioners then known as allopaths. The guilds' models were adopted but americanised by chiropractic. The bonesetters guild was present at the foundation year of the University of Notre Dame.
Bonesetters are noteworthy for three terms: stipendary, orthopaedis[c], free health care and the garotte. In middle European times life of an infant was entered by a midwife, but life was deemed to occur at seven days by the physician. If the first son, the physician and bonesetter would examine and confirm life and prosperity on the son, and the father would enter a stipendary of payment to the two healers to deliver to him a healthy son on his seventeenth birthday, then the physician and bonesetter would financially guarantee it with a money back return on all of the stipendary if the son died for any reason or was so deformed he could not carry on the family work to support the ageing father
The best bone setters, that is approved by royalty, would confer the title orthopaedis which is now orthopaedic meaning carer of the spine of the baby boy. These bonesetters were able to charge more and held high office in the guild.
Free health care occurred in the Middle Ages in that the then bone setters gave free care to the mans wife and daughters but not the sons, simply as a courtesy to the community.
The garotte was given to the bone setters and physicians in the French and European Revolution, where five thousand two hundred bone setters were garotted in the same time, as well as four thousand eight hundred physicians, as both were political nieve middle class crafts.
Napoleon in 1802 sacked their respective guilds and persecuted their members until 1806. The 'fourth book of the dire of the craft' was entrusted to one body, and the 'six books of constellation' were spirited away to private collectors. There are nine large volume books by the craft in safekeeping today mostly in Greek, Latin and Gaelic
In some older Eastern families and communities bonesetting was learned in conjunction with acupressure / acupuncture as the main healing art and treatment for the remote location and family members. For many years this type of training was normal practice in these families and communities being passed on from generation to generation. These teachings and uses could be easily found in regular use in the Samurai culture of Japan. This type of ancient formal training has almost completely vanished due to the modern chiropractic / medical boards and certifications. However you can still find a small number classically trained martial arts practitioners practicing this art in traditional ways today.
Other "Lay" bonesetters still practice in some parts of the world.[2][3]
Present day bonesetting in the United Kingdom
Bonesetting involves the bonesetter adjusting the position of the bones in relation to another without the use of anaesthetics.
Profession
Bonesetters practice in the United Kingdom and some are listed with a voluntary register set up as a limited company called Unified Bonesetters Ltd. As no legislation has been passed to regulate bonesetters, the title of Bonesetter is not protected.
Therapeutic principles
Bonesetters accept the general principles that relief of pain and restoration of function through manipulation of the bones will allow the body as a whole to improve its function of both nerves and arteries.
Treatments
Bonesetters treat pain and dysfunction and include in the treatment plan patient review and self management.
See also
References
- ^ http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2565620
- ^ Aries MJ, Joosten H, Wegdam HH, van der Geest S (2007). "Fracture treatment by bonesetters in central Ghana: patients explain their choices and experiences". Trop Med Int Health. 12 (4): 564–74. PMID 17445148 : 17445148.
{{cite journal}}: Check|pmid=value (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Huber BR, Anderson R (1996). "Bonesetters and curers in a Mexican community: conceptual models, status, and gender". Med Anthropol. 17 (1): 23–38. PMID 8757711 : 8757711.
{{cite journal}}: Check|pmid=value (help)