What Is McTimoney Chiropractic? An interview with Amanda Brooks by Jane Thurnell-Read

I asked Amanda Brooks, a friend and retired McTimoney-Corley chiropractor, to help me put together these questions and answers about McTimoney chiropractic. I also used some information from www.mctimoney-chiropractic.org.

What is McTimoney chiropractic and how does it differ from ordinary chiropractic?

John McTimoney was an engineer who trained as a chiropractor. He devel oped his own special gentle techniques using just the pisiform bone in his wrist to make the manipulation. The practitioners hand is removed immediately after the manipulation allowing the patients body to react by itself. McTimoney chiropractic involves manipulating bones, so that stress can be removed and the body can realign itself, allowing everything to flow properly.

Who can benefit from it?

Everybody from babies to adults of any age, including pregnant women in fact anyone who has a skeleton!

What happens in a typical session?

Firstly the practitioner takes a case history. The client then takes off their clothes apart from their underwear. Typically the practitioner will give the patient a gown to wear. The patient stands in front of the chiropractor, who will look at how they stand naturally in relation to an actual or imaginary plumb line. Often the patient will be asked to perform certain simple movements to see if their body is symmetrical or movement is restricted in any way. Then the patient lies on the couch, and the chiropractor carries out another assessment using his/her hands and eyes, e.g. checking leg length and whether the pelvis is twisted. The practitioner then manipulates the areas of stress within the skeleton. Regardless of the problem the whole skeleton is assessed and manipulated where necessary, as stress in one area of the skeleton can affect other areas of the body. The patient is then usually shown remedial exercises for them to do at home to maintain the manipulation that the chiropractor has done.

How often is McTimoney needed?

Usually a practitioner will allow a week between visits initially, and then the appointments will be spaced further apart as progress is made.

How many sessions will be required?

Occasionally the patient will only need one visit, but many patients will need up to 10 sessions. Once the problem is fixed, the chiropractor may recommend regular preventive maintenance visits too.

How can a good McTimoney chiropractor be found?

Have a look at www.mctimoney-chiropractic.org or do a web search to find one.

Find a chiropractor.