What to Expect
Your first visit will take up to one hour. We will discuss your problems in detail and take a full medical history.
You will normally be asked to remove some clothing so that a series of observations and biomechanical assessments can be made.
After making a diagnosis your osteopath will fully explain the nature of your problem and form a treatment plan. Follow up treatments are half an hour, and at this stage the number and interval of follow-up treatments will be discussed.
If necessary we may occasionally need to refer you for further investigations such as an MRI scan or an X-ray.
Treatment will begin on your first visit. This may also include adjunctive advice on posture, exercise and diet as well as your general lifestyle if these are contributing to your problem. The way that you have been leading your life has brought you to this point and together we need to look at ways of changing and improving lifestyle to support your recovery and maintain your on-going health.
Your involvement in your treatment is as important as ours. It is an active decision to recover, following tailor-made exercise programs and effecting lifestyle changes will endorse and enforce the osteopathic treatment. Good health concerns your entire well-being and is not simply an absence of disease.
Longer explanation of osteopathy
...The theory of ‘structure governs function’ means that the body systems work best if the structure that supports those systems is sound and efficient. If the physical body or musculo-skeletal system is strong and working well, the functions of the body, ie digestive system, will work well and freely. The two are closely related and integral to each other. For example, if the muscles of your neck are tight from prolonged computer work, then this tightness may not only be causing tension headaches, but also squeezing the nerves and the blood vessels of the neck vertebrae causing functional disturbances like restricted blood flow and nerve action.
What we treat
Back pain
Back pain can strike anywhere in your back and can stay in one spot or radiate into your legs, arms, neck and head or through to 'the front' and be taken for groin, abdominal or chest problems. This is often due to pressure on the nerves of the spine which then pass to all of the above areas. Back pain is very common, over 60% of the UK's population will experience it at some time in their lives. The pain can vary from very mild background aches to severe and debilitating and can occur as acute short lived episodes or as chronic pain suffered over a long time that can be both uncomfortable and very exhausting. Most people will get very 'run down' both physically and mentally by any long term symptoms.
Why does back pain occur
There is always a reason for back pain but this may be a single incident of a trauma or injury, or a build up of accumulated stress and strain over many years. Accumulated stress and strain can be from physical or mental and emotional causes but often from a bit of both. We have to remember that in the real world physical mental and emotional causes and effects all work together, such as blushing when we are embarrassed or hunching our shoulders when stressed.
To be most effective in our treatment we need to have a full understanding of the causes of your symptoms. We need to understand how the injury has arrived and how it has affected your body. If your injury is due to a habit of using your body incorrectly then we need to be able to modify that habit or whatever changes we make will be undone and longterm improvement will be more difficult.
Don't forget that the way you have led your life up to this point is what has brought you to this point. If you do not change the way you have led your life then you will end up at this point again and you may not want to. So, often your body has reached the limits of its ability to cope with the combined effects of past injuries and traumas, any new demand can be the 'final straw'. This is why picking up your sock can cause your back to seize up when you appeared to cope with concreting the garden path or going through your divorce!
So during the course of osteopathic treatment it is often necessary to release the retained stresses from past injuries and traumas, sometimes called tissue memory, in order to effect a lasting change in the current problem.
Whiplash
This is a more and more commonly seen injury and can affect you even at relatively slow speed collisions. With your body and head thrown in many different directions, the tissues from your neck down to your pelvis can all be subjected to directional stresses which may remain in your body until released by treatment. These symptoms will often develop over the days following an accident and not necessarily at the time.
Digestive Problems
The wall of our gut is made up of muscle. This, like your shoulders and neck, can get tight either through holding in tension and stress or incorrect nerve stimulation from certain levels of your spine when your back is not working correctly. Once tight the gut wall will squeeze the food flowing through and prevent it travelling at the right speed. This can easily aggravate conditions such as constipation or irritable bowel syndrome. The gut wall can be released by gentle osteopathic techniques to the abdomen and the spine.
Pregnancy
A mothers body undergoes great and wonderful changes as her baby grows and develops. Osteopathy can help in these adaptations such as the changing shape of the spine to bring the centre of gravity backwards to counterbalance the 'bump'. As the baby grows and pushes up under the diaphragm or down onto the bladder, these structures are put under extra localized pressure. Any mechanical restrictions in these structures show up as pain and disfunction which can be eased with treatment. Many mums come along for regular check-ups through their pregnancy to help to make themselves more comfortable and to ensure their pelvis is as flexible as possible for their delivery.
Babies & Children
Babies are subjected to enormous pressures as they twist and turn to pass down the birth canal. The soft bones of the skull overlap and bend to accommodate this. This is why many babies are born with odd shaped heads. In the first few days after birth, their head can usually be seen to lose this moulded shape as the baby suckles, cries and yawns. However sometimes this process is incomplete, especially if the birth was difficult, slow or too fast. This moulding causes extra or asymmetrical mechanical stress through their skull which can cause uncomfortable stresses within their head or body, or pressure on the nerves exiting the base of their skull.
These nerves control structures such as their tongue which can make suckling more difficult and their stomach and diaphragm making them more prone to regurgitation or colic. Having uneven pressure around their skull can make them more restless and less likely to settle to sleep.
Glue Ear
As they grow retained compression around the ear can impede fluid drainage, leading to partial or complete blocking of the eustachia tube. This means infections never fully clear, leaving them vulnerable to the next infection. This is when grommets are put in to help drainage but they are not addressing the reason why the drainage is poor in the first place.
Poor concentration & learning difficulties
Retained moulding makes babies restless and uncomfortable to be in one position for too long. This can become habit forming, so as they grow into childhood they are not used to staying at one task for a prolonged time. Severe compression can also modify normal patterns of learning in the brain.
Any areas of compression and mechanical restriction in a growing childs body will inhibit growth and development in these areas which will show up as they continue developing throughout their childhood and teenage years.
Sometimes parents are told that they 'just have a grumpy baby' or that it is normal for their teenager to have headaches every week. This is not normal and there is always a reason for any unsettled behaviour. It is just a question of finding the reason.
Osteopathic treatment (of babies and children)
Osteopaths can use a variety of very gentle techniques, especially what is known as 'cranial treatment' to release any abnormal pressures and moulding throughout the bodies of babies and children. We are aiming to balance the pressures and tensions which may have built up anywhere in their bodies and are putting abnormal strain on the delicate structures underneath. These techniques can be used on children of any age, the younger they are the less time these patterns have had to become established into their bodies.
- Return to home page
Osteopathy and Patient Protection
Patients consulting an osteopath have the same safeguards and rights as when consulting a doctor or dentist. Osteopathy is an established system of diagnosis and treatment as recognised by the British Medical Association as a distinct clinical discipline.
Under the Osteopaths Act of 1993 osteopathy was accorded statutory recognition and the title ‘osteopath’ is protected by law. In the UK it is now a criminal offence to describe oneself as an osteopath unless registered with the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC).
The GOsC regulates, promotes and develops the profession maintaining a statutory register of those entitled to practice. Practitioners on the Register meet the highest standards of safety and competence and have professional indemnity insurance.
Private Health Insurance
We are registered providers for most health insurance companies. However, we advise that you check with your insurer that your policy covers fees for osteopathic treatment.
Please note that some schemes may impose an excess whereby you have to pay the initial cost up to a certain amount; OR there may be a limit to the amount which can be claimed.
Phone Numbers for Insurance companies -
HSA/ Simply Health 01264 353211
BUPA 0845 609 04 44
PPP 01892 512345
back to osteopathy
Fees for Osteopathic Treatment
Consultation - £45.00
Subsequent treatment - £42.00