Can children benefit from osteopathic treatment?

Yes, very much so.In fact they will respond much quicker to treatment as their bodies heal faster anyway and osteopathic treatment is just a way of facilitating the healing process.So often kids will complain of pains and as parents we often do not take them seriously and aches and pains are passed off by the medics as ‘growing pains’ or the kid is just trying to gain attention.But they can have sprains and strains just like us but also they are growing and so it is essential to correct any stresses on the system before it alters the development or becomes something that cannot be changed.

Treatment can be very gentle and children respond really quickly and well to treatment.This does not have to cranial treatment which is very commonly the approach of choice, and problems dealt with early, can avoid huge issues when the child is fully developed.If you are unsure if your child needs treatment just ask to bring them in for a short consultation and we will be able to tell you if they may gain benefit.

Equally if you feel your child would benefit from cranial treatment; we have practitioners who use this approach,just ask.

How are Physiotherapy and Osteopathy different.

If you are able to get to see a Physiotherapist on the NHS they will usually give you exercises,and there is very little hands-on treatment. We will recommend exercise but usually only after the pain has gone, to help with mobility and muscle tone,both of which may prevent recurrence.But whilst you are in pain exercise can often make the pain worse, so we use various techniques to help the body to heal itself.Sometimes this will be gentle manipulation,if joint alignment has been affected; the clicking of joints can help to reduce the muscle tone around an inflamed joint and this may then start to heal.Other times we use gentle movements to improve the blood supply,and stimulate fluid exchange,to help get rid of the inflammation;this can be in conjunction with anti-inflammatory drugs and local hot and cold treatments. Many private physics will work in a similar way, but not many use manipulation as much as Osteopaths.

Physiotherapy can address lots of illnesses and conditions and help with rehab in the hospital setting,whilst Osteopathy concentrates on the bodies framework and how this interacts with other systems of the body.So your poor mechanics maybe upsetting other systems in the body, or visa versa. Either way we can help by improving body function.

Can osteopathy help feet and ankles.

Yes.We are very well trained to diagnose and treat foot and ankle problems. But also we will look at your foot and ankle mobility,inversion and eversion(pronation and supination) to see if this is the cause or predisposing factor to other chronic,long term mechanical/postural problems.They could be the reason for you Lowback problems recurring.

We have probably all ‘gone over’ on an ankle and if you are lucky it swells a bit and you hobble for a couple of days and then it seems to heal.But often what happens is the critical position and alignment of the large ankle joint, does not return to normal but because no ligaments are damaged you feel better; but  you carry on walking on an ankle that is not moving freely  or positioned correctly, and this can cause problems further up at the knee or pelvis or lowback.We can help return normal position and mobility to the ankle.

Another very common scenario is you hurt your hip or knee or even ankle and hobble about for weeks, which means you walk on a solid foot,not using it properly,and this means the joints that make up the arch of the foot, become stiff or impacted. Again the original problem heals but you become aware of foot troubles later,very often it is a  dropped metatarsal’metatarsalgia'(feels like your walking on a pebble),because of a stiff arch,or equally typical is a plantar fasciitis, a very painful longitudinal arch pain,( feels light a tight band along the sole of your foot). Both of these can be resolved and we can address the underlying cause as well;maybe also giving exercises to work the mobility and strengthen the small muscle of the foot.