Sujok has become popular among people suffering from chronic diseases, especially among the poor who can’t afford costly hospitals
As the world battles the Coronavirus pandemic and other zoonotic diseases that are plaguing humanity, it is vital to keep healthy and boost immunity. Apart from the use of various allopathic drugs and ayurvedic tonics, people are trying out alternative therapies to improve their overall health and immunity.
One such therapy is Sujok, which was invented by late Park Jae Woo, a Korean professor, a few decades ago. It is a drugless method of treatment and is a mixture of acupuncture and other healing methods. Su means hand while jok means palm. Sujok is thus a method of treatment based on the principle that all parts of the body have a positional link in our palms and feet and it thus focuses only on treating through points in the hands and feet.
After successfully treating many chronic diseases in his country, Prof Park chose India to propagate this therapy and established the Sujok Association of India in Nagpur. He groomed and trained a few physiotherapists and other interested people and kept on visiting India to popularise this drugless treatment.
Sujok in recent years has become very popular in some parts of India among people suffering from chronic diseases liked axonal neuropathy, cerebral palsy and so on, especially among the poor people who cannot afford costly treatment in big hospitals. It is becoming popular because it is a very safe and effective natural therapy that works without medicines.
Sujok treatment is carried out by using various instruments, like tiny needles and magnets specially defined and made with precision to carry out specialised, specific treatment on the hands and feet. Sujok needles are made of medical grade steel, have spring-like handles on one side and are perfectly shaped for painless insertion by experts. The therapy also uses the energy of various seeds and colours for treatment. One of the most effective ways to massage the points of the body part where the treatment is needed is done by a diagnostic and therapeutic stick after identifying the exact points and then treating those points by massaging.
Magnets are the most important tools in the armoury of a Sujok healer. They are used to channelise the flow of energy in the identified body part. Yet another way is the application of elastic ring massagers to provide continuous pressure on the identified point.
As for the efficacy of the treatment, Sujok practitioners give a long list of diseases which can be cured by them like arthritis, bronchitis, asthma, cervical spondylosis, backache, pain in the joint, migraine, hypertension, sinusitis, partial deafness, paralysis, constipation, acidity, obesity, diabetes, blood pressure, menstrual problems and many more diseases related to different body organs. However, practitioners say they find it to be successful in all muscle and nerve-related diseases, too.
For instance, a senior retired veterinary surgeon who was admitted to a medical college hospital in Dehradun, was later treated by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, for almost eight months for axonal neuropathy. He was put through 84 tests but to no avail. Ultimately, out of frustration he contacted a Sujok expert in Dehradun and was cured in 90 days. Today he is fine and his nerve conduction value has reached 56 per cent in medical terms from 14 per cent. Similarly two children suffering from cerebral palsy children have returned home after fully recovering, thanks to Sujok therapy.
In a huge, overpopulated and poor country like India, providing affordable healthcare to all is still a very big challenge for the Government and the private sector alike. Even though the healthcare infrastructure has been ramped up to a very large extent due to the covid-19 pandemic, it is far from adequate. At a time like this, when a lot of emphasis is on prevention of the infection, ayurvedic and traditional systems of medicine have proved their efficacy in bolstering the immune system. In the treatment of chronic diseases, where Sujok therapy has achieved excellent results, it needs to be subsumed in the holistic and alternative healthcare system so that it can be evolved to provide cheaper and assured healthcare to our citizens. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who is a celebrated doctor himself, needs to evolve an integrated healthcare policy for certain identified diseases where a combination of all forms of medical therapies can be applied.
Sujok therapy offers the Indian Government an excellent way to treat some untreatable diseases at an affordable cost. However, it should not be included without testing its efficacy and solid scientific proof. To judge its potential and effectiveness, the Government must ask AIIMS, Delhi, and other prestigious medical institutions in the country to conduct studies and standardise the protocols for identified diseases before Sujok therapy is officially recognised.
Even as Sujok therapy continues to grow in popularity globally and help countless people suffering from chronic diseases, Sujok leaders in Korea, particularly Minchul Park, son of professor Park who heads the Sujok International Foundation, have their task cut out. Park, must rid the Sujok India Association of vested interests who are not allowing new practitioners to flourish and are putting up roadblocks in the spread of the therapy for their own selfish interests.
One can only hope that in the end, Sujok will spread widely across the country and become a boon for the poor and rich alike.
(The writer is a retired civil servant. The views expressed are personal)
