Osteopathy

A WHOLE PERSON APPROACH TO HEALTH

Midtown Wellness Osteopaths believe everyone can benefit from a tailored, whole-person approach to health.

From supporting mothers; keeping the elderly active and mobile; aiding recovery from muscle and joint injuries, or contributing to the management of chronic long-term conditions, our team of osteopaths will take the time to help you keep healthy and mobile, using expert hands-on treatment, exercise, and health advice.

Our osteopaths are fully registered with the General Osteopathic Council and the British Medical Acupuncture Society.

TIME TO UNDERSTAND YOUR INDIVIDUAL NEEDS

As highly trained healthcare professionals our osteopaths take the time to understand your individual history, circumstances and unique physiology so they can provide you with a personalised plan to get you as healthy as you can be.

Osteopaths have the expertise and training to provide you with a thorough examination, taking the time to find out as much as they can about your current and past health history. They will also undertake physical examinations to ensure that they can provide the most suitable treatment plan, or if needed refer you to other healthcare professionals if required.

As trained allied healthcare professionals, we are experts in the musculoskeletal system – that is the muscles, joints and associated tissues and their relationship with other systems of the body.

We also work closely with other healthcare professionals such as consultants, GPs, nurses, podiatrists, personal trainers, psychologists, Psychotherapists, nutritionists and physiotherapists to give you the best care possible.

You can see one of our Osteopaths for:

• Arthritic pain

• Circulatory problems

• Cramp

• Digestion problems Fibromyalgia

• Frozen shoulder/ shoulder and elbow pain/ tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) arising from associated musculoskeletal conditions of the back and neck, but not isolated occurrences

• Headache arising from the neck (cervicogenic)

• Joint pains

• Joint pains including hip and knee pain from osteoarthritis as an adjunct to core OA treatments and exercise

• General, acute & chronic backache, back pain (not arising from injury or accident)

• Generalised aches and pains

• Lumbago

• Migraine prevention

• Minor sports injuries

• Muscle spasms

• Neuralgia

• Tension and inability to relax

• Rheumatic pain

• Sciatica

Osteopaths will take the time to understand your symptoms, medical history and lifestyle which in turn will help them make an accurate diagnosis of the cause of your issue and formulate a treatment plan with you that will achieve the best outcome.

Your osteopath will also need to undertake a physical examination which they will explain to you beforehand. This will often comprise of you undertaking some movements and for the osteopath to examine areas to feel for any tightness in the muscles and stiffness in the joints to identify problems.

Sometimes the cause of the problem may be in a different area to the pain, for example, pain in your lower arm may be linked to the nerves in your neck, so they may need to examine your whole body.

You may find that your osteopath may undertake other examinations, such as blood pressure or nerve checks, or even refer you for other tests such as x-rays, MRIs or blood tests. Occasionally they may diagnose an issue that they are unable to treat and may refer you to your GP or another appropriate health professional.

As with any health consultation, they will record this confidential information to form part of your health record and store it in accordance with legal requirements for medical data.

Osteopathic treatment often involves manual therapy – a range of gentle hands-on techniques that focus on releasing tension, stretching muscles and improving mobility – together with exercises and helpful advice designed to help you relieve or manage your pain, keep active and maintain the best of health.

Before an osteopath starts any treatment, they will explain what is involved so you can agree and consent to your course of treatment.

Osteopathic treatment is usually a very gentle process. There may be times when you experience discomfort during or experience some mild soreness after treatment. This will normally go away within 48 hours. Your osteopath will let you know if they think that any of the techniques they recommend are likely to be uncomfortable.

If you experience serious or unusual symptoms after treatment you should contact your osteopath straight away for advice.

Osteopaths often work with or refer you to other healthcare professionals as needed to ensure you receive the most appropriate care and treatment.

The number of sessions needed varies based on your condition and individual response. Our goal is to minimize appointments. After your initial assessment and diagnosis, your osteopath will provide an estimate of the required treatments and discuss it with you.

Osteopathic treatment often involves manual therapy – a range of gentle hands-on techniques that focus on releasing tension, stretching muscles and improving mobility – together with exercises and helpful advice designed to help you relieve or manage your pain, keep active and maintain the best of health.

Before an osteopath starts any treatment, they will explain what is involved so you can agree and consent to your course of treatment.

Osteopaths are regulated by law and recognised as an allied health profession by NHS England. This gives them a similar status to dentists or physiotherapists and guarantees an equivalent high level of care.

Before an osteopath can obtain registration, they must attain specialist degree-level training, either a Bachelor of Science (BSc.) or integrated Masters (MOst.), plus complete over 1000 hours of clinical placements (direct patient contact time).

To maintain their registration with GOsC, which is renewed annually, osteopaths must meet mandatory continuous professional development (CPD): keeping skills and knowledge up-to-date and maintaining high standards of professional development.

By law, an osteopath must be registered with the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) to practise in the UK.

After 1 week, 89.5% of osteopathic patients report some level of improvement in their symptoms. At 6 weeks, 96.2% of osteopathic patients report improvement or recovery.

There is good evidence for manual therapy reducing pain and disability while improving function and range of movement for MSK problems including low back pain, neck pain, shoulder dysfunction, cervicogenic headaches, and pregnancy-related back and pelvic pain.

Research suggests that the integration of several treatment approaches, as practised by osteopaths, maybe the most effective management strategy.

Your osteopath may use dry needling alongside other techniques as needed. Dry needling targets tight muscle spots to help release them. Also known as Medical Acupuncture or Western Medical Acupuncture, this method uses fine needles and is based on modern anatomical and physiological knowledge. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends acupuncture for chronic pain, tension headaches, and migraines.

These three therapies have similarities and overlap, all aiming to reduce pain by improving structure and function. Each has distinct philosophies and methods to achieve these goals.

Chiropractors and osteopaths both emphasise nerve supply and blood flow, respectively. Chiropractors often focus more on spinal manipulation, while osteopaths use a wider range of techniques, including stretching, massage, cupping, acupuncture and mobilisation. Chiropractors typically have shorter sessions (15-20 minutes) compared to osteopaths (45-60 minutes), which often results in fewer treatments.

Physiotherapists are generally hands-on along with prescribed home exercises.

Osteopathy takes a holistic approach, addressing the whole body and underlying causes rather than just symptoms.