OSTEOPATHY
What to expect when you visit our osteopaths
- You will be listened to and understood – more >
Your first visit will take up to an hour. You will be able to tell your osteopath all about your symptoms, how much pain you are suffering, how long you have been suffering and how it is affecting your life and the lives of those around you. Back and joint pain can be very debilitating and your osteopath needs to know all the details. In addition to your current symptoms, your osteopath will then need to take your full medical history particularly any past episodes of back or joint pain.
- You will be examined and your situation fully explained – more >
You will normally be asked to remove some clothing so that a series of observations and biomechanical assessments can be made. If you are not comfortable with undressing you can wear loose sports clothing. During the assessment you can add any information that you may have forgotten to say and show your osteopath directly where you feel the pain.
- Your osteopath will discuss a treatment plan with you which will be individually designed and tailor-made to meet your needs and puts you in control of your health – more >
After making a diagnosis your osteopath will fully explain the nature of your problem often using anatomical charts so that you know and understand what has happened to your body. The next stage is to form a treatment plan.
This plan will be for osteopathic treatment but there will also be advice about exercises and activities you can do to endorse your treatment and strengthen your back and joints as you go. This may also include advice on posture, exercise and diet as well as your general lifestyle if these are contributing to your problem.
The way that you have been leading your life has brought you to this point and together we need to look at ways of changing and improving lifestyle to support your recovery and maintain your on-going health. For example, if you sit at a desk for many hours of the day, you may be able to improve your work station to give you a better posture.
- You will receive direct, hands-on treatment and advice on your first visit – more >
Treatment will begin on your first visit. If you have never been to an osteopath before then it’s important to know that osteopathic treatment doesn’t involve machines, its purely a hands-on examination and palpation with treatment using a broad range of gentle hands-on techniques including soft tissue stretching, deep tactile pressure, and mobilisation or manipulation of joints.. Don’t worry – your osteopath will explain what he/she is doing as they go along. Follow up treatments are half an hour, and at this stage the number and interval of follow-up treatments will be discussed
Your involvement in your treatment is as important as ours. It is an active decision to recover, following tailor-made exercise programs and effecting lifestyle changes will endorse and enforce the osteopathic treatment. Good health concerns your entire well-being and is not simply an absence of disease.
If necessary we may occasionally need to refer you for further investigations such as an MRI scan or an X-ray.
