About Osteopathy
Primary Health Providers
As primary healthcare providers Osteopaths are trained to give a safe, well-reasoned and appropriate treatment for a wide range of problems. We are trained in the scientific, evidence-based medical model of diagnosis and treatment. When caring for you I will take a detailed case history, examine your body and diagnose the issues, including referral for further investigations, provide a hands-on treatment for those problems, and give exercises and stretches, posture and lifestyle advice to manage the problem. If other types of therapy may benefit you, I will refer you to other treatment providers as appropriate.
Holistic Manual Therapy
Examination and diagnosis will involve moving your body in different ways, and touching different parts of your body to assess how they move or function. For example, I may ask you to bend forwards or back to test how your spine moves, or I may ask you to relax your muscles while I lift your arm and move your shoulder to test the motion there. As Osteopathy is holistic, the examination, diagnosis and treatment will include the whole of the body. This allows me to form a full, integrated picture of what factors are causing your symptoms, and treat all the different body parts and systems that are affecting your problem, in order to resolve it.
Treatment of Acute and Long Term Problems
Osteopathy is useful for both resolving acute minor injuries and problems that have started recently, and giving longer term rehabilitation treatment for a more severe injury, or surgery that may be less recent. Acute injuries may qualify for an ACC subsidy. If it is a work-related injury, you may also need to notify your employer.
Osteopathy is very good for unlocking injuries that happened a long time ago, or long-term problems that have not resolved with other forms of treatment. There are many diseases and conditions that cannot be “cured”, but Osteopathy can be of great help in relieving pain and symptoms, managing flare-ups and improving general well-being.
Health is present in the body when all our different, interconnected mechanisms are moving optimally. Life has a constant impact on our body: we all experience physical setbacks due to aging, a chronic condition or accident. When osteopaths work with different parts of the body they gradually become fit for use again. A good osteopath can also help to reverse long-term issues.
Osteopaths work holistically, with organs, tendons, fascia, skeleton, muscles and the messaging system of different fluids and nerves, using both gentle and firmer manipulation.
Osteopathy originated in the US in the 1880’s, based on the work of Dr Andrew Taylor Still. Adopting a preventative approach he recognised that, working with the mechanics of the body, it is possible to treat the causes of disease rather than just the symptoms. This groundbreaking approach made it possible to work out the origins of disease.
Structural Osteopathy
Working with body structures involves manipulating and moving parts, stretching, massaging or pressure/trigger point release joints .
Cranial Osteopathy
Cranial osteopathy works with the skull bones. The brain exists in liquid and the skull is made up of many bones, with oxygen supplying the brain moving around constantly. This form of osteopathy is particularly effective on infants, who have softer skulls.