About Osteopathy, Classical Osteopathic Treatment

Why do so many health problems go unresolved?

Many people suffer from stubborn, unresolved health problems. Often they have not had a useful explanation for their problem; and precise diagnosis does not always offer a solution.

Sometimes treatment is ineffective, or comes with side-effects. Frequently they are told they'll just have to cope with it, or wait until it gets much worse before anything useful can be done.

Classical Osteopathy recognises that every case has complex and unique circumstances that are sometimes overlooked, and thereby offers potential new avenues for recovery.

What can it treat?

Most patients see Osteopathy as treatment for back pain and sports injuries, but it is much more than that. The early Osteopaths didn't just manage aches and pains, they dealt with every kind of health problem, from the very minor to the very serious.

Modern osteopaths are seldom called upon for life-threatening emergencies; and besides, medicine is more suitable for such problems. But the variety of problems that seem to improve with treatment is often quite surprising, and the power of the body to recover when given a chance is truly amazing.

Treatment

Treatment is through manual therapy and self-help advice. The Osteopath uses gentle movement to examine, diagnose and treat all at the same time. The aim is to restore mechanical balance, improve freedom and integration of movement, promote blood-flow and waste removal, and thereby help the body to regulate itself more efficiently.

Often the key to recovery is in making changes to lifestyle or environment. Sometimes the best medicine is knowing when to leave alone, and wait for a process to run its course.

How does it work?

The human body is constantly seeking health, maintaining and repairing itself. Osteopathy works by removing obstacles to these processes.

Throughout life, we acquire structural changes, in the course of sport, injury, work, pregnancy, illness and emotional trauma, and the constant effect of gravity. And when structure changes, function changes too: the body becomes less efficient and more vulnerable to injury and stress; eventually ill-health can follow.

By identifying and reducing causes of problems, Osteopathy enables the body to heal itself, to become more efficient and resilient in the process.

The Osteopathic Profession

Osteopathy is an officially recognised, safe, drug-free philosophy of health care, based on applied anatomy and physiology, regulated under law in Britain and much of the world.

All Osteopaths in Britain have undergone a rigorous, 4 or 5 year training in human sciences - anatomy, physiology, pathology, and clinical diagnosis, and all must be registered with the General Osteopathic Council.

History of Osteopathy

Osteopathy was created in America in the 1860s, by Andrew Taylor Still. When his family were struck with meningitis, Still was dismayed by the medical profession's inability to help. Still believed that health is related to the structure of the body: when structure changes, ill health follows. His disappointment was in the failure of medicine at that time to recognise this truth, and its complete inability to help his children; and he began years of research to find a better way.

In the late 19th Century, Osteopathic hospitals were popular, and were successfully treating all kinds of health problems, from the minor to the very serious. In 1910, following reforms of healthcare regulation in America, the Osteopathic colleges were required to move in line with the medical model, and thus lost many of their distinctive principles and practices.

Still's protégé, John Martin Littlejohn, brought Osteopathy to the UK to preserve its unique philosophy, where he founded the British School of Osteopathy in London.

Today, Osteopathy is largely thought of as a system of care for musculo-skeletal problems, such as back pain and sports injuries. In fact the early Osteopaths treated hardly any back pain!

Whilst Osteopathic training has some things in common with medical training (Osteopaths train in anatomy and physiology), it is not a branch of medicine. It was developed as a separate discipline, with a unique approach and distinctive philosophy (Osteopathic Philosophy).

Osteopathy is for much more than back-pain and sports injuries. Here are just some of the things that bring people to osteopaths:

- Acute pain or discomfort

- Chronic, stubborn or complex issues

- Medical mysteries

- Sports injuries

- Occupation-related health matters

- Vicious cycles of health

...and much more besides.

Because Osteopaths treat people and not diseases, causes and not symptoms, it is not always possible to say 'Osteopathy can help with this and not with that'.

So please phone or email to discuss your particular problem and find out if Osteopathy can help you.

Osteopathy can often find new avenues for progress when other systems have failed, or when diagnosis has created a label but not solved the problem.

Many people turn to Osteopathy having been disappointed by other approaches.