What is Osteopathy?

Osteopathy began in the early 1800’s by a man called Andrew Taylor Still, he was the first recorded person to pronounce the view the holistic view that the body is a unit.

By this he meant that each tiny part of the body, including its systems, are intimately connected to every other part of the body.
This in turn means that when one part of your body is not functioning at 100% the rest of the body will be affected In some way.

Osteopathy is a whole body system of care. It takes into account not only your physical symptoms but also your diet, lifestyle and overall health. (The body-mind-spirit triad). Osteopathy seeks to treat the patient as a whole, considering mental, physical and emotional factors simultaneously rather than a collection of body systems that can be treated almost individually from each other.

Osteopaths are trained to interpret whole patterns of aches, pains and general health problems as a result of altered structure or function – connecting them together where other eyes may not note a connection.

Osteopaths are skilled at discovering underlying causes of pain. Trained to have a thorough understanding of anatomy and physiology, they use their hands to investigate and treat injuries to the ligaments, muscles and joints.

One of the key points of Osteopathy is that they aim to not only treat your current symptoms but to suggest why the condition has arisen, finding the route cause and working together with the you, the patient, through treatment and education to prevent the problem from reoccurring.

Each patient is considered as an individual. Utilising a highly developed sense of touch, problem areas of the body will be identified. The osteopath may use a variety of treatment tecnhiques including gentle stretching, massage and mobilising techniques as well as manipulating joints, working with your body to create the perfect conditions to facilitate the healing process.

Picture taken from 'Grants Atlas of Anatomy' by J.C.B Grant, M Lee and A Agur.