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There are four main principles upon which
my osteopathic treatment is based.
- Your body is an integrated whole. This means that the
source of your ailment may be located in a part of your
body different from where you are experiencing pain.
- Your body has the capacity to heal itself, given the right
support. My role is to provide that support to your body’s
own healing mechanisms, stimulating them to work at their
optimal capacity.
- The structural integrity of your body and how well it
works depend on each other. If one is in trouble, then the
other one will be affected too.
- You are not just your physical body. Your physical health
is closely connected with your complete health. My treatments
take into consideration the interactions and influences
between your physical body and your emotional, psychological
and spiritual health.
To successfully treat your condition, we would
follow these steps:
- I’ll take you through a thorough case history. This
includes the what you’ve come about, as well as a
personal and family medical history. I will record any medication
that you’re taking and ask about medication in the
past. This helps me decide which techniques are safe and
appropriate to use. I will also ask you about diet and lifestyle
since these have a significant influence on the state of
your health.
- I will do a structural assessment of your body, particularly
the problem area. You will be asked to go through a series
of simple moves to help me determine what the problem is
and where it lies. Normally, for this, you will need to
remove some of your clothing, but this never involves removal
of your underclothing. If removing some of your clothing
is a problem for you then we can discuss it to find a solution.
- I’ll give you an example of why it’s important
to see the whole body during examination. A new patient
came into my office suffering from frequent headaches. When
I examined him, he appeared to have an imbalance at the
top of his neck. With his shirt removed, I saw other imbalances
in his back and decided to take measurements of his leg
lengths. They were very different! This is what was really
causing the imbalances in his back. I could see that this
disrupted blood flow from the top of the neck into the head,
producing the headaches. My treatment, therefore, incorporated
compensation for the leg length difference as well as correction
of the imbalances in his back and neck.
- Sometimes I may need to take your reflexes or blood pressure.
There may also be times when I’ll listen to your heart
and lungs with a stethoscope, especially in cases of asthma
or suspected infection. I’ll probably ask you to put
various joints through a series of movements to determine
how well they’re functioning. I will then test the
same movements myself while you remain relaxed sitting or
lying down. I’ll use orthopedic tests to help evaluate
such things as muscle contracture, nerve impingement and
prolapsed intervertebral discs. Occasionally, I may need
additional investigations such as X-rays or blood tests,
but this is rare. Once my examination is complete, I will
offer you a treatment plan.
During treatment, I can use a range of
techniques to help restore your health. This may include stretching
of muscles, remedial massage, mobilization of joints and joint
adjustment. There is also a subtle technique called cranial
osteopathy. One major aspect of osteopathy is 'listening with
one's fingers'. Osteopaths have a highly developed sense of
touch. Palpation reveals such things as tissue quality and
joint mobility that are essential information for diagnosis.
Osteopaths also look for such things as skin markings, thread
veins, etc. which are clues to the health of the underlying
tissue.
I use a wide variety of techniques. The
'classic' ones are soft tissue techniques, including massage,
joint mobilizations or articulations and joint adjustment.
Soft tissue techniques includes anything
from a gentle relaxing massage to a more rigorous and precise
neuromuscular technique. Soft tissue techniques are frequently
used to prepare a joint for mobilization and adjustment. This
is because there is no point adjusting a joint just to have
its motion restricted yet again by tight muscle. In fact,
chronic muscle contracture leads to lack of joint mobility
which causes further muscle contraction and a viscious cycle
ensues. The cycle is broken at the muscular level by soft
tissue techniques and active and passive stretching and at
the joint level by mobilization and adjustment. These techniques
also increase blood flow and nutrition to an area as well
as stimulating the nerves. Cranial osteopathy makes adjustments
through very subtle changes in the position of bones, nerves,
fascia, organs, fluids and other body tissues to promote and
restore health.
The number of treatments needed varies
with the type of problem and how long it has been present.
An average number of treatments is 3-6.
I treat both chronic and acute conditions.
With chronic conditions maintenance treatments are often needed.
The time period between treatments can vary from weeks to
months.
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