Osteopathy is a manual, non-invasive therapy that manipulates the body's muscle network to make it stronger. An Osteopath concentrates on the patient's spine, joints and muscles during treatment. Diagnosis and treatment are done by hand through a set of techniques known as Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine.
Osteopathy treats a set of conditions that include:
- Arthritis.
- Headaches.
- Neuralgia.
- Golfer's and tennis elbows
- Sciatica, back and neck pain.
- Problems arising from bad posture.
- Hip, ankle, knee and foot pain.
How It Works
When you visit an osteopath for the first time, they will inquire about the symptoms that affect you. They will also probe to find out more about your overall health. In case there is any other medical care you're getting they will want to delve into that as well. Once this is over, they will manually find out tender areas in your body or feel for any strain. This happens through:
- Using massages to relax your muscles.
- Joint articulation to move them naturally or stretching them if necessary.
- Brief and brisk movements to interact with the spine (which will produce a clicking sound).
- They may request you to do some simple movements as part of the treatment exercise.
Benefits of Osteopathy
Osteopathy helps lower the rate of sleep apnea in infants who are four years and below. It also helps to combat insomnia and the resulting chronic pain.
Some techniques used in osteopathy improve the lymphatic system's health and help to usher in physical improvements that lead to not having to undergo invasive surgical procedures.
Osteopathy helps to reduce back pain which is increasingly becoming a problem across the board from many people. While it provides curative care, an Osteopath will also seek to point out preventive measures as a way to empower you to handle back pain. These include:
- Proper posture.
- How to reduce stress.
- Proper lifting techniques.
- Breathing exercises.
- Proper stretching exercises.
Although an Osteopath focuses on some similar areas of interest as a Chiropractor, the latter specialises in spine and joint work to improve nerve function and healing.
Conclusion
Osteopathy is a therapy that focuses on impacting the muscle system through manual diagnosis and treatment. It treats and relives a variety of conditions and compliments more traditional curative measures as well. Like any other therapy, it carries both risks and benefits for the patients. Osteopaths are qualified medical doctors who also act as physical care physicians in traditional medical fields such as paediatrics, internal medicine, etc.
Hello! Are you interested in finding out how you can deal with various diseases and illnesses? If so, you have come to the right place. My name is Mike and I live in Alice Springs, Australia. I am not a doctor or a nurse, but I have been nursing various members of my family for many years now. During this time, I have spent many hours in the doctor's office, the hospital and the waiting room. As a result, I have learnt a lot of useful things which I would like to pass on to other people. I hope you find my new blog useful.