Description
When you first visit an osteopath they will spend some time taking a medical history, which will include questions about your general health and lifestyle as well as asking you about the symptoms or injuries that you are seeking help with. With your consent they will then perform a physical examination, which is likely to involve the osteopath touching the areas of your body that are experiencing pain and asking you to move around.
Osteopaths are highly skilled in a technique called palpation which means they can use their finely tuned receptors of touch to detect abnormalities.
They may also look at test results, x-rays and scan reports if these are available.
The osteopath will make a diagnosis and discuss a course of treatment with you. This may involve visiting them a few times for manual therapy, some exercises that you can do by yourself and some lifestyle changes. They will discuss the likely cost of this treatment and ask for your consent to begin treatment. If the osteopath believes that your condition would not be improved with osteopathic treatment they will refer you to your GP or another suitably qualified professional and may provide you with notes explaining their diagnosis and why they feel osteopathic treatment would not help you.
Conditions we treat
The most common conditions treated are:
- Back and neck pain
- Shoulder and arm problems
- Pelvis, hip and leg problems
- Sports and other injuries
