What kinds of problems can osteopathy help?
Osteopathy is helpful in overcoming stiffness and locomotor disabilities, problems with walking, climbing stairs, dressing and getting up from beds and chairs. Most of all it is effective in alleviating acute and chronic pain.Osteopathic treatment can be used to help a wide variety of injuries and conditions:
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Athletic Injuries The growth and interest in sport and fitness training has led to an increase in sports-related injuries which osteopaths are uniquely equipped to handle. Many of today’s world top athletes acknowledge the debt they owe to osteopathic treatments. |
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Muscular Rheumatism Muscle pain – lumbago, "fibrositis" and rheumatic pain in the arms and legs is one of the most common medical complaints. This condition can be alleviated, but rarely cured, by drugs. To obtain more permanent relief, it is necessary to eliminate the underlying causes, something an osteopath is specifically trained to do. |
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Foot pain The foot is an incredibly efficient piece of human engineering. It is also a frequent source of pain which can be severe enough to make walking difficult and life miserable - a disability which can often be alleviated by skilled osteopathic treatment. |
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Tension Headache It is generally recognised that a large proportion of headaches – 805 or more – originate from stiffness and tension in the neck. This gives rise to pain, often radiating over the skull from the base of the neck to the eyes. Head and analgesic tablets often relieve the pain, but long-term relief often requires osteopathic diagnosis and treatment of the underlying problem. |
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Back Pain Surveys reveal that four out of five Britons will suffer backache at some time in their lives. The vast majority of back pain results from mechanical disturbances of the spine – postural strains, joint derangements, spinal disc injuries – and can be relieved or completely cured by carefully designed osteopathic treatment. |
Pre and Post Natal Changes
During and after pregnancy, when changes in posture are giving rise to pain and discomfort, many women find great relief from osteopathic treatment. There is the added advantage of avoiding the use of drugs.What does treatment involve?
Treatment can consist of conventional osteopathic techniques of manipulation, articulation and soft tissue massage, occasionally supplemented with ultrasound therapy or cranial sacral therapy.Ultrasound therapy is a gentle from of treatment involving minimal manipulation and using high frequency sound waves to promote healing and reduce inflammation. This form of therapy has been successfully used for several years for the treatment of sports and similar injuries.
Cranio-sacral therapy is a very gentle non-invasive form of treatment that can penetrate the deepest level of the body’s system and is used to alleviate a wide variety of functional disorders such as digestive, menstrual and neurological problems. In addition, it is very valuable in treating subtle effects of head injuries such as whiplash. This approach has a very special role in the treatment of birth trauma in babies.
