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Mexican Sobadores in North Carolina: Manual Therapy in a New Settlement Context

Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health volume 19, pages 1186–1195 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Latino immigrants to the New Settlement area of the southeastern United States face structural and cultural obstacles to accessing the conventional health care system, and come from areas with long traditions of medical treatments from healers without professional training or licensure. Little is known about the use of such healers in New Settlement areas. This study focuses on sobadores, healers who use manipulative therapy. Goals were to describe sobadores practicing in North Carolina, including their background, conditions treated, and their understanding of the pathophysiology of their patients’ conditions and how their treatments work. The paper also describes who sobadores treat and sobadores’ understanding of where their treatment fits into patients’ pursuit of relief from symptoms. This focused ethnography draws from in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with six sobadores from Mexico practicing in North Carolina. These sobadores appear to meet both structural and cultural needs for healthcare in the immigrant Latino population.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by a Grant from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (R21 AT007255).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Trine Stub

    Present address: UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Sykehusveien 23, 9037, Tromsø, Norway

Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Division of Public Health Sciences, Medical Center Boulevard, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    Sara A. Quandt & Trine Stub

  2. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA

    Joanne C. Sandberg, Dana C. Mora & Thomas A. Arcury

  3. Graham Chiropractic PLLC, 1300 Ashley Square, Winston-Salem, NC, 27103, USA

    Alan Graham

Authors
  1. Sara A. Quandt
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  2. Joanne C. Sandberg
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  3. Alan Graham
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  4. Dana C. Mora
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  5. Trine Stub
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sara A. Quandt.

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The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Research Involving Human Participants/Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Quandt, S.A., Sandberg, J.C., Graham, A. et al. Mexican Sobadores in North Carolina: Manual Therapy in a New Settlement Context. J Immigrant Minority Health 19, 1186–1195 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-016-0466-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-016-0466-3

Keywords

  • USA
  • Traditional healer
  • Folk medicine
  • Healthcare
  • Manual therapy
  • Immigrant health