About Osteopathy
Osteopathy is a safe and effective treatment for musculo-skeletal problems, using hands-on techniques to assess and treat any dysfunction affecting the normal working of the body.
Osteopathic techniques work with the body's own natural ability to heal. A variety of methods can be used to stretch and mobilise the muscles, ligaments and joints to provide pain relief and improve function.
During a course of treatment, advice is given to help an individual to identify areas in which they can help themselves. This may include the best exercise to strengthen the problem area, postural advice and ergonomic set up at work
What Do Osteopaths Treat?
Back pain is very common, almost half the adult population of the UK (49%) report low back pain lasting for at least 24 hours at some time in the year.
What causes back pain?
In most cases, it is very difficult to identify a single cause for back pain. Many structures in the back can be a source of pain such as spinal joints, muscles, ligaments, discs and nerves.
The following factors can contribute to back pain:
- Having had back pain in the past
- Physical factors such as heavy physical work, frequent bending, twisting, lifting, pulling and pushing, repetitive work, static postures and vibrations
- Smoking and obesity
- Factors such as stress, anxiety, depression, job dissatisfaction and mental stress
Back pain, in particular, persistent back pain, can have a significant impact on your life. It frequently reduces quality of life and adversely affects your family and social relationships. Up to 7% of people with acute back pain will develop chronic back pain. For this reason, it is important to get early treatment to reduce the disabling symptoms and get advice on what to do to help your back recover as quickly as possible.
How can osteopathy help?
Osteopathy works by using soft tissue massage, joint mobilising and muscle stretching techniques to reduce spasm, improve range of movement and reduce pain and stiffness in the joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons and nerves.
We will also give you advice on the best exercises to perform and what you can do to help yourself (e.g. ice pack or heat) and what to avoid whilst your body is healing (e.g. sitting too long in one position, bending and twisting or heavy lifting).
We recognise that you are an individual and endeavour to tailor a package of care to meet your specific needs.
Osteopathic treatment is recommended by The National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE) for the effective treatment and management for non-specific low back pain. If you have had symptoms for more than six weeks the NICE guidelines state that your GP can make you aware of osteopathy as one of the effective treatment options.
Read more here at the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Sometimes people with a back problem also experience symptoms into their leg and/or foot. This can be quite a severe pain or burning sensation and can be accompanied by pins and needles, numbness or weakness. This is caused by pressure on or irritation of the sciatic nerve which comes from your back down through your buttock and into your leg.
There are many causes of sciatica some of which will respond to treatment. We will take a thorough history and examine you to determine whether treatment is suitable or we may suggest that you need investigation, for example, an MR scan and advise you to see your GP for a referral. We will explain what we are doing and why so that you fully understand and can make informed decisions about the best treatment pathway for you as an individual.
What causes neck pain?
There are many reasons why your neck may be sore including:
- Postural problems, for example, sitting badly at a computer or laptop
- Sleeping awkwardly or in a draught can sometimes give you an acute stiff neck
- Arthritic or ‘wear and tear’ changes in your neck known as spondylosis, may also give you a clicking or grating sound as you move your head
- Whiplash injury which commonly occurs after a road traffic accident
Neck pain can sometimes spread up to the base of the skull causing headaches or travel down into the muscles across the shoulder and upper back causing pain and stiffness.
Sometimes you may experience pain, pins and needles or numbness into your arm and/or hand. This may be caused by an irritation of the nerves in the neck as they travel out of the bony channels in the neck into the arm. This can happen sometimes in spondylosis or can on occasions be a symptom of a herniated disc (commonly known as a slipped disc)
How can osteopathy help?
We will take a full medical history and examine you to determine the cause. If we feel it is appropriate we’ll give treatment or if necessary refer you to your GP if we feel that further investigation is necessary.
The vast majority or neck pain is nothing to worry about and can be helped by using soft tissue massage, joint mobilising and muscle stretching techniques to reduce spasm, improve range of movement and reduce pain and stiffness. We can also advise you on the best exercises to do to get you moving as quickly as possible and how to correct your posture to reduce reoccurrence.
What causes shoulder pain?
There are a number of conditions that affect the shoulder which can be triggered by wear and tear, overuse or injury including:
- Frozen shoulder
- Rotator cuff damage / tendonitis / impingement
- Sports injuries
- Instability after dislocation
- Arthritic changes
Sometimes pain in the shoulder can be referred from the neck.
How can osteopathy help?
There are many conditions relating to the lower limb that people present with at our clinics from degenerative conditions e.g. arthritis of the hip or knee to sports injuries such as runners knee or accidents leading to ankle sprains.
When we examine the lower limb it is important to look at how everything interrelates. A painful knee may be a straight forward cartilage problem, arthritis or caused by a dropped foot arch and the altered movement pattern causing the knee to twist and eventually leading to pain. Pain in the knee could also be referred from a trapped nerve in the back or from an arthritic hip. So it is not always straight forward to diagnose. It is really important to come early with these problems so that the right diagnosis can be made and appropriate treatment and advice given to help speed recovery and avoid further injury.
To enable us to best help you, we allow up an hour for your first appointment so that we can get a full picture of your current problem, your medical history and your lifestyle. Once we have completed an examination we will then explain and discuss your condition and outline how we can help you and explain what you can do to help yourself. This may, for example, include getting insoles to correct dropped foot arches, advice on exercises to strengthen specific muscles to help your limb work in a more functional way, or if it’s a sports injury how long to rest, when and how to increase the training for your chosen sport.
We recognise that you are an individual and endeavour to tailor a package of care to meet your specific needs.
A tendon is the tough band of fibrous tissue that joins muscle to bone. Tendons have various levels of flexibility depending on their function in the body.
Tendonitis is a condition where changes occur in the tendon causing it to become irritated and painful. This can be due to overuse or repetitive strain. These changes can lead to chronicity and degeneration of the tendon and tears can occur or occasionally the tendon can rupture completely. This can be affected by the type of activity you engage in, your age and your general health.
Tendons that are commonly prone to tendonitis are the Achilles, the rotator cuff of the shoulder and the tendons at the elbow joint (on the inside this is called golfers elbow, on the outside tennis elbow).
How can osteopathy help?
It is important to get early treatment for tendonitis so that chronicity and further injury is avoided. We use a research-based protocol at the clinic to help the tissues repair optimally combining treatment in clinic and advice on what to do at home to speed repair.
There are a number of different arthritic conditions. The most common are:
Osteoarthritis – this is the most common form and often known as the “wear and tear” arthritis that comes with age commonly affecting the fingers, hips and knees, but it is not inevitable. The smooth cartilage in the joints gets cracked and worn causing pain and the joint edges can thicken restricting movement. It can run in families and can occur earlier in a joint that has had a previous injury. Being overweight can also have a greater loading effect on the joints and make them more symptomatic sooner.
Rheumatoid Arthritis – this is an auto-immune disorder i.e. a condition in which our immune system, which normally protects us from infection, actually turns on itself and attacks the joints causing swelling, redness and pain. It can make you feel unwell and fatigued. For some people it can be short-lived and cause little long term problems, for others it can be a lifetime of acute attacks and remissions which needs careful management.
Gout – is a type of inflammatory arthritis caused by a build-up of uric acid crystals in the joints. Acute attacks can occur most commonly affecting the big toe causing heat swelling and pain in the joints which can be excruciatingly painful and disabling and even the lightest of touches on the affected joint e.g. a sheet can feel unbearable. It is more common in men and older women and can run in families.
How can osteopathy help?
We most commonly treat osteoarthritis which can effect on your day to day life causing pain and restriction and lack of mobility. Although osteopathic treatment cannot change the underlying condition it can help to reduce the symptoms. Gentle massage and stretching and mobilizing of the muscles and ligaments around the affected joints can help to release tension, reduce pain and promote better mobility and function to enable you to do more with your life. We follow this up with advice on the best type of exercise for you as an individual to minimise the pain and maximise your mobility. We are dedicated to ensuring you get the best out of life.
What is a trapped nerve?
Nerves in the body may become compressed and irritated as they pass through a narrowed space e.g. a narrowed channel in the vertebra of the spine or under a tight muscle.
There are many areas in the body that a nerve can become “trapped” or irritated and inflamed. One of the most commonly known is the sciatic nerve which if compressed can cause severe pain into the leg and can go as far as the foot. This can also happen in the neck causing pain into the arm and on occasions into the hand.
A nerve pain is often described as sharp, shooting or burning and can also present with pins and needles or numbness and weakness in an area.
How can osteopathy help?
It is important to understand why and where the nerve has become trapped or irritated so we take a full history and examine you, performing special tests to discover where the nerve is trapped. Most nerve irritations can be helped by using techniques to reduce the spasm around the area to take the pressure off so that the nerve can heal. It takes time for a nerve which has become inflamed and swollen to heal, we will give you advice on how you can help this process at home by giving you exercises to improve your mobility and advice on what activities help and what to avoid during the healing process.
Injuries – sometimes an injury to your wrist or a recently healed fracture can leave you with a stiff and painful wrist and restricted range of motion leaving you struggling with daily tasks.
Repetitive strain - We commonly see wrist injuries perhaps from overuse of the computer keyboard or mouse especially if the workstation is not well set up.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - Another problem we see is carpal tunnel syndrome where the median nerve gets compressed at the wrist causing tingling, numbness and sometimes quite severe pain. It typically presents in the early stages as discomfort in the palm, thumb index and middle fingers especially at night and can get progressively worse leading to a weakness of grip.
You’re more at risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome if you are overweight, pregnant, do hobbies or work where your wrist is frequently bent or when using vibrating tools, have another condition like arthritis or diabetes, have a close family member with it or have a former injury to your wrist.
How can osteopathy help?
We can diagnose the condition and give you the correct advice and treatment or if appropriate refer you on to your GP for further specialist investigations.
We can advise on the best set up for your computer workstation so that the least stress is being put on your joints.
Pelvic girdle pain and low back pain are the most common musculoskeletal problems experienced during pregnancy and we commonly see new mothers whose bodies are still trying to recover from pregnancy, childbirth and the strain of carrying around and looking after their new babies whilst trying to cope with little sleep.
How can osteopathy help?
There’s a great deal we can do to ease the pain with hands-on massage and stretching, advice on the best exercises and posture. New mums are often grateful just to have a little time to themselves and get a bit of much need attention!