Osteopathy is a primary health care profession specialising in the musculoskeletal system, diagnosing and treating a wide range of medical conditions.

Osteopathy is suitable for all ages and The Village Osteopaths treats patients from as young as four days old up to patients well into their nineties.

Osteopathy is a physical therapy using non-invasive, hands-on treatment to detect, diagnose and treat damaged parts of the body’s tissues and joints.

Osteopath focuses on your acute problem – the pain – before looking into the root cause of why this pain has occurred. Their primary focus is fixing the underlying cause of the problem to establish long term pain relief for patients.

Hands On Treatment

Osteopathic diagnosis involves examining joints and muscles using palpation (touch), craniosacral therapy observing posture and your range of movement to detect and diagnose damaged parts of the body’s tissues and joints.

Osteopathic treatment consists of non-invasive, hands-on techniques such as massage, joint mobilisation, and stretching alleviate pain and discomfort – dependent on age, fitness and diagnosis.

Their techniques increase joint mobility, eases muscle tension, enhancing blood and nerve supply to tissues, and encouraging an individual’s own healing mechanisms.

Your manual osteopath will also discuss exercises which can improve your posture and movement to aid your recovery.

Is Osteopathy Different?

Methodical Approach

Osteopathy is holistic – which means it takes the whole body into consideration. This is what makes osteopathy stand out from other, similar disciplines as osteopaths treat the body as an integrated being.

This methodical method leads to a diagnosis of what the root cause is and your osteopath can treat the problem and advise on how to adapt to ensure no relapse occurs,.

If it is the case that your osteopath cannot treat the problem they will refer to another medical professional. Some of them can do neurokinetic therapy too.

The Root Cause

Your osteopath will take your whole body into consideration when making a diagnosis.

This doesn’t mean ignoring your problem area; your muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments etc are all interconnected, so your osteopath will consider what is causing your pain and where else in the body may be affecting, or affected by, the problem area.

This approach means osteopaths will treat your initial pain but will also look to treat the root cause of your pain. This consideration, searching for the root cause of the problem, sets osteopathy apart and underlines our work to achieve long-term pain relief.

osteopathy Appointment

What to Expect

Medical History & Consent

The Village Osteopath’s Medical History Form is a short form asking about general health, your health history, particular problems etc. This helps your osteopath form part of their questioning for your consultation, leading to diagnosis and find the root cause of your problem.

We also need to ask for your consent to perform osteopathy treatment and to keep, and maintain, your medical records.

What is an osteopathy assessment?

Following the consultation your osteopath will need to assess your body by looking at your posture and seeing how joints move by feeling the state of your muscles and other tissues.

Osteopath near me may also carry out other tests, such as checking reflexes and blood pressure.

Like any medical examination you will probably be asked to undress to your underwear, or down to something you are comfortable wearing.

MAINTENANCE OSTEOPATHY TREATMENTS

Like Visiting A Dentist

A lot of patients come to The Village Osteopaths regularly and/or periodically for Maintenance Osteopathy Treatments (MOTs) as a preventative measure.

Even when patients are not suffering from pain or discomfort, they attend as a preventative measure to ensure they suffer no relapses.

It is the same as regularly visiting your dentist to continually assess and prevent degeneration in your teeth, except osteopaths do this for your whole body.

Proactive Treatment

Osteopathy prevents injuries from occurring by assessing your musculoskeletal system to locate any imbalances, subtle tightness or restriction of movement that may not have manifested into pain..

If there are any imbalances or problems they can treat accordingly and advise on additional treatment, changes to your daily or sporting routine or exercises.

Of course, if you are experiencing pain and discomfort elsewhere they can also focus on this as well, but through regular MOTs your osteopath will be able to proactively address issues before they manifest into pain.

Osteopathy Case Study

Whether it is a result of carrying a heavy bag, being hunched over a laptop or a sports injury – pain and discomfort is your body’s way of letting you know something isn’t right.

Your body will adapt to muscles being used more and become more dependent on these – meaning you are over compensating.

For example, a tight piriformis muscle could, overtime, be leading to an abnormal gait. This could lead to your weight when you’re walking or running being abnormally distributed through your knee joint, putting pressure on muscles, ligaments and tendons that aren’t built to carry this weight.

As a result these muscles and connective tissues become overworked and you start to experience acute pain in your knee – when the problem has actually began in your piriformis muscle.

By treating the acute pain (in the knee), tracking the reason for this pain (abnormal gait) your osteopath has got to the root of your problem (tight piriformis muscle).

Your osteopath will subsequently treat you accordingly and will advise MOTs as a preventative measure to ensure you maintain optimum health and do not relapse.