Osteopathy: Taking Care of Your Body in a Holistic Way

Do you frequently have headaches?  Is your lower back pain or knee pain preventing you from doing sports or other activities that you enjoy?  Or do you have body pain that just won’t go away?  Osteopathy can help.

What is Osteopathy?

Osteopathy recognises that all the different parts of our body – skeleton, joints, muscles, nerves, connective tissue and internal organs – work as one holistic unit.  Instead of looking at just a symptom, osteopathic treatment will take into consideration vascular, musculoskeletal and mental health in order to help treat the real cause of an injury.

For example, if you come to an osteopath with a sore shoulder, your osteopath will not only assess your injured shoulder, but also the connecting tissues that attach to it.  Osteopathy aims to correct any misalignments in the body so that everything else can function better.

Osteopathy uses skilled evaluation, diagnosis and an extensive range of hands-on techniques to identify injuries or dysfunctions in our bodies. Osteopathic treatment involves safe and gentle manual techniques, including soft tissue stretching, mobilisation, inhibition and manipulation. These techniques assist in improving the body’s elasticity, strength, endurance, mobility and performance.

How can Osteopathy help you?

Osteopathy can give you a holistic approach to treating your problem areas as it focuses on how your skeleton, joints, muscles, nerves, circulatory system, connective tissue and internal organs function as one unit.  You may find that it not only helps with one injury, but it can also help to relieve other pain or problem areas.

Osteopathy has proven to help treat a wide range of injuries or pain areas, including:

Headaches

Headaches are often caused by tension, muscle stiffness or joint strain in the neck and upper thoracic region.  Depending on your diagnosis, your osteopath may work on your general mobility particularly the mobility of your ribs, thoracic and cervical spine.  You may also be given advice on posture, exercise, stretching and diet to help prevent recurrence of symptoms.

If your headache is accompanied by fever, nausea, vomiting, bleeding or dizziness, then your Osteopath will advise you to seek further professional treatment from one of our Naturopathic or Integrative Medicine doctors.

Back and Neck Pain

Back and neck pain are common complaints with 80% of the population having suffered from back pain at some point in their lives.  Various studies show that osteopathic treatment reduces back pain, increases mobility and leads to a quick recovery process.

Osteopathic treatment for back and neck pain may include working on joint mobility, muscular tension, inflammation and nerve irritation.  Your osteopath may also investigate blood supply to and from the spine and pelvis.  Advice may also be given on how posture, exercise, stretching and diet can help reduce back and neck pain or prevent future occurrences.

Shoulder Pain

Shoulder pain is often complex and the injury may be harder to treat compared to other pain areas.  Your osteopath will work closely with you to determine a treatment that will work best.  Osteopathic treatment may include improving muscular flexibility in the shoulder area and improving range of joint motion in the mid back, neck, shoulder blade and shoulder.

Your osteopath may also give you advice on home or office ergonomics to help improve your posture.  You may also be given proper exercises for stretching and rehabilitation. Osteopathic doctors can also prescribe natural medicines to reduce inflammation and muscle spasms.

Hip and Knee Pain

Hip pain is commonly caused by inflamed tendons and may also be related to lower back problems.  Your osteopath will assess your lower back and lower limb movement to help determine the cause of your pain.  Your osteopath may work on improving your joint mobility and give you advice on how good posture can help alleviate hip pain.

Knee pain can be debilitating and may prevent you from doing sports and other activities you enjoy.  Osteopathy can help determine the cause of your knee pain and help you correct the muscle mechanics of your knee and surrounding joints.  This may help you move much more confidently and comfortably.  Often knee pain is related to rotation of the pelvic girdle and realignment of this can resolve knee pain.

Chronic Pain

According to the Australian Pain Management Association, one in five Australians suffers from chronic pain.  Chronic pain occurs when the brain and nervous system change their structure and function in such a way that the brain tends to think your injuries haven’t healed even though they already have.  The result is prolonged and severe pain that prevents you from living your life to the fullest.

Osteopathy may help in treating chronic pain by giving you an understanding of how changes in the nervous system can affect your movement and feelings, and by managing the pain as effectively as possible.

If you have injuries or body pain, our osteopaths can help.  We are here to give you support and guide you through a treatment program which may help lessen your symptoms.

Call or email us to book an appointment.  Our qualified health practitioners are here to help you through your injuries, pain areas or other health concerns.