Once you have decided on a therapy to try to relieve your back pain, the next step is to find a reliable practitioner. Probably the best way to do this is to ask around and get personal recommendation from friends or your doctor.
If you are looking for an osteopath or chiropractor, try asking your family doctor. You could also try this route for counseling and psychotherapy – and possibly even Alexander technique. If you want to find a reflexologist or a crystal therapist, however, you would probably be well advised to ask elsewhere.
A personal recommendation is often the best way of finding a reliable practitioner. Local health-food shops are often a goldmine of information about complementary practitioners in the area, as are pharmacies. Many have notice boards advertising various therapies but ask the staff as well, since many of the better known practitioners do not need to advertise. It is also worth looking at notice boards in supermarkets, libraries and leisure or sports center.
You can also try the local telephone directory under the therapy of your choice. Many practitioners now advertise their services in this way and you may find there is a natural health center offering therapies in your area.
Another approach is to contact a self-help group. These groups, run by and for those suffering from a particular condition, vary hugely in size and sophistication, from local groups with a handful of members to national organizations with expertly staffed advice lines. Many publish regular newsletters with the latest information about therapies and keep lists of recommended practitioners. They are often listed in the telephone directory but, if not, your local library is an excellent place to start looking for a suitable therapist.
On a national scale, you can often obtain a list of practitioners in any particular therapy from its umbrella organization. As complementary medicine becomes more established, there is an increasing number of professional and umbrella organizations that represent practitioners of different therapies.
Some of these are professional bodies in the true sense in that they lay down the qualifications needed by members and take an active role in training and ongoing education. Others are simply associations which any practitioner in that field is entitled to join and are really little more than a list of members’ names and addresses. It is worth checking when you contact a particular organization which of these two categories it falls into. If it is the former, then you can be fairly confident that its members will all be properly qualified.
Once you have found a suitable practitioner your first visit will give you a pretty good idea about whether he or she is reliable and whether you wish to carry on with the therapy. Trust your instincts here. The practitioner should give you a feeling of confidence. It is important to remember that the success of many complementary therapies depends, to a large extent, on a nurturing relationship between healer and the person being healed. You are in charge and if you do not feel at ease with the practitioner or think that you may not get along with him or her, do not worry about saying so and leaving.
For manipulative therapies, the practitioner’s touch should be firm and professional, yet sensitive and gentle at all times. No practitioner should ever touch you in an intimate area without first asking permission and explaining exactly why it is necessary. If you are uneasy about this, ask to have a friend present during the session. No bona fide practitioner will object – if they do, find another therapist.
No genuine practitioner will ask for payment in advance unless in exceptional circumstances, perhaps for special tests or medicines. If this is the case ask the practitioner to explain exactly what the money is for and if you are not happy with the explanation, refuse to pay and find another therapist.
