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Abstract This paper explores the �body work� undertaken by practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), in the light of ethnographic research on the education of osteopaths and homeopaths. The data presented focus on practitioners� experiences of learning to communicate, touch and facilitate the healing process for their patients. Two new concepts are introduced: listening to body-talk and constructing body-stories, which are discussed as aspects of body work. Body-talk expresses the idea that the embodied patient is not a passive recipient of healthcare, but that the �body� is able to communicate its distress and its needs. The body-story concept highlights the interactional nature of the therapeutic encounter and the profound interrelation between the treatment and case-taking aspects of the practitioner�s clinical tasks. By drawing on key sociological concepts of the body and embodiment, reflexivity and narrative, I argue that the dialogical construction of body-stories challenges Cartesian dualism. Finally, I discuss what the data might mean for the future development of the sociological concept of �body work�, drawing particular attention to the necessity to problematise the concept of the �body� and to pay great attention to body work as embodied work.
