Dr Christophe Savouré DC is a French chiropractor with 20 years’ professional experience. He practiced in the USA, UK, Thailand and Vietnam prior to opening the first licensed chiropractic clinic in Cambodia.

Most Westerners have heard of chiropractic and many use it or have used it to treat their back problems or injuries. But here in Cambodia it is considered a new therapy and very few people have heard about it.

So what is it? The World Health Organization defines chiropractic as “a health care profession concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders of the neuromusculoskeletal system and the effects of these disorders on general health.

There is an emphasis on manual techniques, including joint adjustment and/or manipulation”.

The human body is an amazing machine, at every second of the day your body is repairing itself, replacing old cells with new ones, controlling bacteria, and fighting viruses. Your nervous system has the very important role of controlling your body. Any interference will affect that control. This is the main job of the chiropractor: finding and removing nerve interferences that arise from musculoskeletal origins.

Problems often arise when one’s body is unbalanced. For example, sitting in the wrong position will put your spine under stress so the muscles will tighten up to compensate and eventually that stiffness will become pain. Additionally, it will begin to affect your discs, which act as shock absorbers between the vertebrae.

Pain often comes with inflammation and is, in itself, just a symptom. It is a message sent by your body to your brain telling you something is wrong. Taking drugs to take care of the pain is alike of killing the messenger to ignore the problem: it does nothing to solve the actual reason of the pain.

So how do we treat these problems? First we need to look into the source of the problems and make a proper diagnosis. Accidents, falls, bad posture, lack of exercise (or too much exercise!) and stress can all negatively affect your body. The vertebrae of your spine can become misaligned, discs can “pinch” your nerves, muscles can become tight and sore, or the tendons and ligaments holding your bones together can tear.

Chiropractors are doctors specialized in treating these conditions, they can analyse your spine, check X-rays or MRI to see possible pathologies or how your muscles may be compensating. They can see if that pain in your arm or leg comes from a disc or a nerve impingement from elsewhere. They will ask questions about your lifestyle to find possible causes, which could be anything: computers, smartphones, exercise, sleeping position, high heels, flip flops or even your diet. The list is pretty much endless.

If you seek chiropractic care, your chiropractor will address your problems by precisely and carefully realigning vertebrae out of normal position, working on muscles, tendons or ligaments using adjunct therapies including electrotherapy, heat/cold, trigger point therapy, myotherapy or dry needling.

These treatments can remove interferences so inflammation recedes, pain dissipates and mobility is restored, signalling recovery. Of course, exercises are prescribed and necessary advice is given to correct one’s lifestyle so these problems do not return in the future.

One example: many people are unaware that the root of their problems may be something as simple as not drinking enough water. This actually leads to more health issues than most people realise.

To learn more about International Chiropractic Clinic, call 023 223 101, visit cambodiachiropractic.com, or stop by the clinic at 67 Bis Street 240.