What Is Osteopathy?

Osteopathy is a form of manual therapy that uses a patient-centered holistic approach to treat a range of conditions, promoting and maintaining physical and psychosocial wellbeing.

The aim of the osteopath is work alongside the patient’s in-built healing mechanisms to ensure good structure of the body, which will enable the systems within to work to their best ability. Osteopaths treat the body as a whole, and will often work away from the site of pain, as well as locally, in order to address likely causes of the problem.

The osteopath will use a range of manual techniques, incorporating stretching and articulation (moving the joint in a specific way) with manipulation (specific stretching of a joint, sometimes resulting in a clicking sound), and more gentle approaches like massage and cranial techniques. Techniques are chosen based on suitability to the individual patient, however if you have any preference to the approach being used, please just let the osteopath know, as there are often many techniques that can be used to achieve the same result.

Being a holistic therapy, osteopaths also consider time outside the treatment room to be of great importance too, integrating exercises and lifestyle advice into the overall management of the problem.