title: Mexican Sobadores in North Carolina: Manual Therapy in a New Settlement Context.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Division of Public Health Sciences, Medical Center Boulevard, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA. squandt@wakehealth.edu.
authors.forename: Sara A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Quandt
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA.
authors.forename: Joanne C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Sandberg
authors.affiliation: Graham Chiropractic PLLC, 1300 Ashley Square, Winston-Salem, NC, 27103, USA.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA.
authors.forename: Dana C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Division of Public Health Sciences, Medical Center Boulevard, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA.|UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Sykehusveien 23, 9037, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Trine
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Stub
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, 27157, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Arcury
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008519:Medicine, Traditional / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D026201:Musculoskeletal Manipulations / Q000379:methods*; D009657:North Carolina / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Folk medicine; Healthcare; Immigrant health; Manual therapy; Traditional healer; USA