OSTEOPATHY

What Is Osteopathy

Osteopathy is a system of manual medicine based on the relationship between the structure and function of the human body. Most importantly Osteopathy is a holistic way of looking at health as a natural state in human beings and an approach to treatment focusing on health rather than disease.

Dr Andrew Taylor-Still, considered the father of Osteopathy, was one of the first to understand that balance between the various structures of the body was inherent to good health and that a body functioning at its optimum capacity was less likely to become diseased.

Osteopaths use their hands to find and address imbalances in the human body, thus ensuring that it functions at its maximum capacity. They look at structural and mechanical problems and use a wide variety of treatment methods to help improve well-being thus helping patients in the process of restoring their own health and maintaining it.

Why See An Osteopath

Osteopathy is now increasingly accepted as a form of treatment by the medical establishment for a range of musculoskeletal disorders, especially aches and pains. However, the scope of Osteopathy is much wider. It can also help to reduce the symptoms caused by poor function of other structures such as organs, blood vessels or nerves, whether due to compression of that structure or to a diseased state.

One of the tenets of Osteopathy is that “the artery rules supreme”, in other words all the fluids in our body, such as lymph and blood, must be able to circulate freely in order to provide nourishment to and remove toxins from our cells, thus allowing them to fulfill their function. By increasing mobility at all levels and ensuring that fluids circulate freely, osteopaths work on the body as a whole.

Most importantly, osteopaths treat each patient as an individual, taking into account not only a person’s symptoms, posture and body shape, but also their lifestyle, occupation and history. Indeed, some factors such as unhappiness at work, stress or past injury can hinder recovery rate or result in the reoccurrence of symptoms. That is why osteopaths spend a long time talking to their patients, this in order to identify not only the possible cause of their current symptoms but also what may have predisposed or may be maintaining their problem. An osteopath will then devise a treatment plan tailored to individual needs which may also entail exercises and changes in lifestyle. Because of this approach, osteopaths offer a treatment which can be preventive as well as curative.

Is Osteopathy For Me

Osteopathy is suitable for all - adults, senior citizens and children. However, it has its limitations such as serious illness or major infectious or inflammatory states. In some cases an osteopath may have to refer a patient on for further investigation by a medical practitioner. Osteopathy is a regulated profession with its own government statutory body, the General Osteopathic Council.