Osteopathy
What Is Osteopathy?
Osteopathy is generally considered a hands on manual therapy where your practitioner will use a variety of techniques to get your body moving better. But it can be much more. Traditional Osteopathy is based on 4 tenets:
The body is a unit; body, mind, and spirit are united and considered holistically
The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health maintenance. Osteopaths simply aim to restore the body’s self-healing capacity that exists naturally
Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated. The structure of a body determines its function. Therefore, an abnormal structure will affect the function of the body.
Rational treatment is based upon an understanding and interrelationship of these basic principles
Modern Osteopathy still adheres to these principles but incorporates a current understanding of the human body and pain into their management. This means your practitioner will utilise a biopsychosocial understanding of pain to guide their management.
What will happen in my appointment?
Your Osteopath will go through a thorough medical history and pain history to accurately diagnose your problem and the inter-related factors. They will then discuss a management strategy and plan which will likely include hands on treatment, exercise prescription, education about your problem and things you can adapt at home to aid with resolution.
Osteopaths use a variety of treatment techniques and these techniques can vary between practitioners, and will also vary based on patient preference. Most likely your treatment will involve a combination of massage, joint movement and stretches, joint manipulation, muscle energy techniques and balanced ligamentous techniques. Depending on your practitioner there may be incorporation of craniosacral therapy, visceral manipulation and dry needling.
Our Osteopaths aim to give a solid foundation in the first appointment and will advise on likely prognosis, healing timeframes and required management for resolution.
Who is Osteopathy for?
Osteopathy can be used for an endless list of ailments, conditions and even just for general body/health maintenance.
Some patients use osteopathy regularly to keep their bodies moving well without a specific pain presentation, others will come for for management and advice after encountering an acute injury, some come in for assistance to achieve a goal like running a marathon or returning to play with their grandchildren and some are just curious to see how Osteo can help them.
We have compiled a list of common conditions seen by our Osteopaths but this is in no way exhaustive.
Osteo, Physio or Chiro?
This is a question every practitioner struggles to answer. The reason being, that there is a large crossover between the 3 professions which makes them similar in many ways. And then looking at the individual professions, there can be such variety and diversity of practitioners that trying to define each one can be a impossible.
Osteopathy – A holistic approach to health with a focus on practitioner led manual therapy to improve a body’s function. Using a variety of techniques based on different patient presentations. There is also a focus on patient education, lifestyle advice and exercise rehabilitation.
Physio – Traditionally used for acute cardiovascular, neurological and musculoskeletal rehab. Practitioners tend to use exercise prescription focus
Chiro – Traditionally has a neurologically driven philosophy with lends itself to spinal manipulation as a primary focus and way of influencing the nervous system.
Which Osteopath or treatment style will suit me?
Soft Tissue massage, Joint Articulation, Muscle energy techniques – These techniques are used by all our practitioners to increase joint range of motion and decrease pain
Manipulation / HVLA – High velocity Low aplitude techniques or “cracking” are used by all of our osteopaths but not on all patients. These are utilised when clinically appropriate and with patient consent
Dry Needling – Currently only Alison and Amy utilise dry needling. This involves the use of fine needles inserted into specific points of muscles and tendons to reduce pain and improve function
Visceral Manipulation – Braedon is our Osteopath trained in visceral manipulation. Often used for unique cases where regular musculoskeletal therapy has failed, visceral manipulation looks at the strain patterns and movement of the abdominal organs.
Craniosacral therapy / BLT techniques – Our osteopaths incorporate these indirect techniques into treatments when needed. They are considered safe and less aggravating than direct treatments. Speak to your osteopath if you were prefer this approach.
Exercise Prescription – All of our osteopaths are trained in exercise prescription and rehab but Alison and Ronan have particular interest in strength and conditioning / training programs
