What is Osteopathy?
Osteopathy is a holistic approach to healthcare, concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disorders of the musculo-skeletal system - joints, ligaments and muscles and by association the circulation, lymphatic and nervous systems. It is a distinct medical discipline that considers your symptoms within the context of your body framework, medical history and lifestyle. This helps us to not only diagnose your problem but also find out why it has happened and how you can prevent reoccurrence and further injury.
Pain in the back can also cause more remote symptoms like pain in the buttock, groin, legs or up into the face, shoulders and arms. Because Osteopathy looks to restore disturbed function it’s scope is wide, treating such a variety of problems like headaches, repetitive strain injuries, and sports injuries, to foot pain. Conditions are often accumulative in origin - influenced by posture, occupation and hobbies, so a patient’s lifestyle is taken into account. An Osteopath is often the most effective first line of treatment in correcting problems causing back pain and sports injuries. For acute patients, visiting an Osteopath quickly averts the possibility of conditions becoming chronic. The focus is on redressing underlying disturbances in the musculoskeletal system, which helps to speed the recovery and relieve pain whilst minimising dependency on drugs and reducing the prospect of extreme measures such as surgery.
Patients of all ages can obtain benefit from treatment.
Osteopathy Training
Training in Osteopathy has substantial overlap with traditional medical training, covering anatomy, physiology, pathology, biomechanics and clinical methods. Wide ranging experience means that Osteopaths are able to identify conditions where osteopathy treatment is not appropriate and refer patients to a GP for further investigation.
Many GPS now refer patients to Osteopaths for musclo-skeletal problems, a mark of the increased standing in which Osteopathy is held and a reflection of the quality of training and regulation to which all Osteopaths are subject.
Regulation
in 1993 Osteopathy became the first major complementary health profession to be accorded statutory recognition. Only those practitioners able to show that they have been in safe and competent practice of osteopathy will be allowed to register and training adheres to rigorous standards. It is illegal to practice or to allude to being an osteopath without being registered, so that patients have the same safeguards as when they currently visit a doctor or dentist. For more information please contact the General Osteopathic Council or phone 0207 357 6655.
