Osteopathy

What is it?

Osteopathy is a branch of medicine that detects, treats and prevents health problems by stretching, manipulating, and massaging joints and muscles.

The treatment is based on the principle that an individual's wellbeing depends on the function of their muscles, bones, connective tissue, and ligaments and works toward the aim of,

  • helping the body to heal

  • increasing joint mobility

  • reducing pain

  • relieving muscle tension

  • improving blood circulation

A non-invasive, hands-on, drug-free treatment, osteopathy primarily involves the musculoskeletal system but also affects the circulatory, lymphatic and nervous systems. 

How does it work?

Osteopathy is one of the primary forms of manual therapy, where both diagnosis and treatment are carried out by hand.

From the eyes of an osteopath, for your body to function well, its structure must work well. So osteopaths aim to restore your body to a state of balance where structure supports wellbeing instead of working against it.

They do this by moving, stretching and massaging a person's muscles and joints.

This also goes for muscles on a deeper level in your body, for instance in your stomach, or your jaws.

During a treatment rather than focusing on one problem area, osteopathy takes a whole-body approach where the therapist will aim to create balance in all body systems.

The initial session will examine your general health, symptoms, and medical history, plus a physical examination. You might be asked to perform small movements during the assessment to help diagnose.

With you fully or partially clothed, the therapist will use their hands to map areas of tenderness, weakness, and restriction with a particular focus on the spine. 

Osteopathic practitioners will refer a patient to a Doctor or recommend additional tests like MRI scans or blood tests where necessary. They will also advise on posture and exercise to help with recovery, prevent symptoms from returning, and promote health.

Is this for you?

Despite using unique techniques, there is scientific evidence to support that osteopathy is effective in treating problems related to the musculoskeletal system.

Most of this research has been focused on general "manual therapy" techniques, such as spinal manipulation. Manual therapy techniques are used by physiotherapists and chiropractors, as well as osteopaths.

Most people who see an osteopath do so for help with conditions that affect the muscles, bones and joints. If you match the aforementioned conditions, Osteopathy could be worth a try.

However, as the (scientifically proven) techniques used mainly fall under the “manual therapy” part, it is implied you could be just as well off going to a chiropractor of physiotherapist.

As such, it is important to do your research before you start this treatment, and to have a clear vision of what a good outcome would be, especially if you’ve already tried working with a physiotherapist or chiropractor.

Make sure to prepare yourself as well as you can: be clear upfront about your complaints, make sure you write down its intricacies and what you expect of the treatment. What would 20% improvement look like? And 50%?

Another important step is to make sure that you’re able to track your progress in some way, so you’re not spending money left, right and center without any idea of impact. How can you measure the result of the Osteopathy sessions in relation to the pain that you have?

If you have any of the complaints listed for which Osteopathy may be an effective treatment and you’re (financially) ok with it not having the impact you hope, it could be a next step for you

What is my experience?

Osteopathy for me did not massively contribute to any improvement.

I must say, I got completely ‘zonked’ out during and after the treatments with an Osteopath therapist, so I would say I did much respond to the treatment. With ‘zonked’ out I mean that whilst the treatment is going, I fall deeply asleep, not even remembering when that happened. This is called a ‘nervous system reset’. Something in the treatment has triggered your nervous system in such a way that it basically decides to reboot. (this can also happen during a massage by the way). The way I interpret it is that your body ‘needed’ that.

When it comes to my lower back pain, neck pain and general tension in my muscles, I did not see the improvement that I was hoping for. I felt like I was going backward instead of forward, after every treatment the need to stay in bed for two days and not do anything else. That’s also the reason I quit, I responded intensely, but still did not feel an improvement where I needed it.

I’m well aware that I could have pushed on, but my life at the time couldn’t let me ‘miss’ so much of daily life. Another issue that I found with Osteopathy was that it seemed like my list of defects was endless, and there was no clear relation between cause and effect. This meant that it was very disappointing and tough to continue on, a new ‘defect’ being discovered every minute.

I do sometimes wonder if I should give it another go, finding myself in a much different state of health than when I tried Osteopathy. I could imagine that this is a better time for me to try it because my nervous system is a bit stronger? If I do, I’ll make sure to update this piece.

How can I try this?

If you’re interested in this treatment, and you have no one in your network that can recommend you someone, Google is your best friend. With the above key-words and desired area you should get quite a lot of result. Please check out my article on How to book a treatment for the first time here.

Disclaimer:

This blog pro­vides gen­eral infor­ma­tion and dis­cus­sion about health, treatments and related sub­jects. I try to shine light on a vast and often ambiguous arena by sharing my own experiences. The words and other con­tent pro­vided in this blog, as well as any linked mate­ri­als, are not intended and should not be con­strued as med­ical advice. I’m not a medical expert. If the reader or any other per­son has a med­ical con­cern, he or she should con­sult with an appropriately-licensed physi­cian or other health care worker.