Osteopathy

What can I expect?
After taking a thorough medical history, an osteopath asks about lifestyle and emotional health and carries out standard medical tests. You will probably be asked to undress to your underwear so that the osteopath can see as much of your body as possible, and to stand, sit and lie down on a special treatment table to study the way you hold yourself and move.

The osteopath will also ask you to bend this way and that while feeling your spine. Years of experience sensitise their fingers, so that by palpating (feeling) tissues, muscles and joints, and by testing temperature, tone, shape and response to movement, they can detect problem areas.

Treatment is tailored to individual needs. It may consist simply of massage and stretching techniques, or it may involve manipulation of the joints, taking limbs through their full range of movement. An abrupt high-velocity thrust, though painless, can cause the joint to 'click'. You may be positioned in such a way that tension from areas of strain or injury is released spontaneously. 'Muscle energy techniques' involve working against resistance provided by the practitioner in order to release tension.

What is it good for?
Osteopathy can help with back and neck pain, joint pain, sports injuries, frozen shoulder, sciatica, PMS and menstrual pain, headaches, insomnia, depression and digestive disorders. Cranial osteopathy is used to treat colic, sleeplessness and glue ear in children.

Although there is a lot of research into osteopathy, much of it is not of a high standard, and osteopaths accept that more clinical trials are needed. Some studies show that osteopathic manipulation can improve recovery time for lower back pain. In 1994, the UK Clinical Standards Advisory Group recommended manipulation for NHS patients with acute back pain and advised GPs to liase more closely with osteopaths, chiropractors and physiotherapists.

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