As an osteopath two of the most common questions, I get asked is it ‘don’t you just treat backs?’and ‘don’t you just treat bones?’. And the answer is ‘I do treat backs and I do work with the bones but that is only a small portion of what I can do!”
When the founder of osteopathy (Andrew Taylor Still), gave osteopathy its name back in the late 1800’s it was due to the idea that the bone was the starting point to addressing the whole person. We look at the joints but also the soft tissues – muscles, ligaments and tendons and assess, diagnose and treat the whole of the person to help with any obvious issues but to also prevent problems occurring.
To become an osteopath, I undertook a 5 year degree looking at all aspects of the human body from the make up of muscles, bones, nerves and blood vessels to diseases and dysfunction of the parts. I learnt to use hands on skills including soft tissue massage, articulation of the joints, stretches for the muscles and manipulations of the spine and peripheral joints. Mostly importantly I learnt how use these techniques appropriately and safely!
So how does osteopathy apply to you… Osteopathic patients are all ages and from all backgrounds including the young, older people, manual workers, office professionals, and sports people. Some of the many conditions that we can help treat include:
- Low Back Pain
- Nerve Pain
- Sciatica
- Neck Pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Tennis Elbow
- Golfers Elbow
- Headaches
- Arthritis
- Chronic Back Pain
- Muscle Spasms
- Shoulder Pain
- Pulled Muscles
- Ligament Sprains
- Frozen Shoulder
- Migraine Prevention
- Sports injuries
And it doesn’t matter how these injuries occur, as I have found most problems happen when reaching down to pick something off the floor or twisting funny or repeating a task you do a thousand times a day; the pain is always valid, and you are never wasting time having it looked it.
If you have an issue which you would like looking at, even just to get another opinion, please get in touch. I am always happy to help!
