• Bilocura EB
• Adlaon MS
• Paqueo AP
• Esnardo RMM

• Chiropractic / Philippines
• Complementary Therapies
• Complementary Therapies / Philippines
• Open Access Document

Objective: Traditional, Complementary, and Alternative Medicine (TCAM) care, such as the Traditional Bone Setting (TBS) technique, has been integrated into the community. However, TBS with integrative chiropractic-like care remains relatively controversial, especially when performed by a traditional bonesetter. This has led to an investigation into why several Filipino patients seek unorthodox treatment from traditional medicine practitioners as a primary approach to managing musculoskeletal pain. It further aimed at understanding patients’ influences, health outcomes, and their experiential evaluation on the said TCAM care.

Design: A qualitative semi-structured interview is utilized in this narrative inquiry research.

Methods: Six informants were identified through a snowball sampling protocol with interviews conducted online. A reflexive thematic analysis was preferred, while coding and generating themes were performed in NVIVO15 software.

Results: Patients reported that their key influencing factors that led them to TCAM care utilization, include peer-endorsed care, social media exposure to therapy, and patient-provider spiritual affiliation alignment. Patients further revealed satisfaction on the procedure while some raised post-care concerns. Moreover, patients’ experiential evaluation to TCAM care include service provider care quality, skepticism to future treatment, expense of care, and perceived treatment risks.

Conclusion: Despite the therapeutic benefits received among patients, such as temporary pain relief, there remains an underlying skepticism regarding the long-term effectiveness of the therapy. The patients’ firsthand experiences, financial and spiritual aspects, are certain considerations over future TCAM utilization. Consequently, the promotion of health literacy is vital to empower Filipino consumers in making informed decisions about accessing appropriate primary healthcare services.

Author keywords: Traditional Complementary and Alternative Medicine; Traditional Bone Setting; Chiropractic; Traditional Medicine Practitioners; Musculoskeletal Pain

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