Body Tuning

A Different Approach to Physical Therapy

February 2, 2003 lecture by Shmuel Tatz summarized by John Anello

Shmuel started his lecture by asking the people in the audience if any ever experienced physical therapy, chiropractic or acupuncture. It was established that some of them had.

He then gave us the number of people in the United States suffering from five common conditions: Arthritis - 33 million; Hypertension - 28 million; Osteoporosis - 25 million; Depression - 17 million (mostly women); Diabetes - 8 million. These are treatable with physical therapy. In fact, he said a great deal of his work is with patients who have some of these conditions.

Then he explained that chiropractic, osteopathy and reflexology are forms of physical therapy because the practitioners in those professions use their hands to touch parts of a patient’s body. Use of the hands on any part of a patient’s body, regardless of the practitioner’s profession is physical therapy plain and simple. But, he pointed out, the physical therapist must be careful of the terminology he uses in this country to describe what he does. He does "manipulation" as opposed, for example, to a chiropractor who does "adjustment" of the body.

He went on by asking if we knew what the word "modality" meant. In his context, it meant various devices used in physical therapy, e.g. ultrasound, magnets, electric vibration, "cold" laser therapy, etc. he made a point to explain the electric shock treatment, and that the laser he used was not the same as that used on the eyes to correct vision. His is non-invasive.

Shmuel told us how he touches the body and listens to it to find weak spots. He also told us that he can then give relief by manipulation and using the appropriate modalities on his patients. Each patient is unique. He determines the best course of treatment only after he performs a thorough examination. When a patient comes to Shmuel, in addition to touching the body to find spots that need work, he closely observes how the patient walks, sits in chair, stands and moves generally. If any of these are not done the proper way, we hurt ourselves. He can suggest corrective action and exercises.

He also is interested in the lifestyles of his patients to find out if they are doing anything that may be hurting them. He spoke of a man who came to him with some complaints, and who had been doing some swimming because he was told it was good for him. Shmuel asked what kind of swimming. The answer was a breast stroke., but the swimmer did not like to put his nose in the water. Keeping the head up while swimming was hurting rather than helping.

He told us he walks in the park almost every day observing joggers and some people who are just walking and hurting themselves with each step they take. He can tell this simply by looking at them.

Summarizer’s Note: I am not a patient of Shmuel’s, but I was in his office recently and I asked a question about his methods. To illustrate, he took my right hand and pressed on a point between my thumb and index finger. He did the same on my left hand. He said enthusiastically that i was a healthy man. He then asked me to turn around. He put his hands on my left shoulder and said there was no problem there, but he detected a slight problem when he touched my right shoulder, and said the range of motion of my right arm was less that may left. BINGO! He was absolutely correct. Many years ago, I hurt my right shoulder when I threw a ball. I never went for any therapy, and some years after my playing days I found that my right arm was not as flexible as my left. Shmuel had no way of knowing this until he gave me his hands on touches.

Shmuel Tatz, a member of NYC HEAL, heads Physical Therapy of Carnegie Hall, 30 West 60th Street Suite 1D, New York, NY 10023, (212) 246-7308.