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What is Osteopathy?

Osteopathy was founded in America in 1874 by Dr Andrew Taylor Still, the first school being set up in 1892. The fundamentals of Osteopathy, massage and manipulation can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and other civilisations.

Osteopathy is a discrete medical speciality which concentrates on the diagnosis and treatment of problems related to altered body mechanics, function and posture.

It is the manual therapy which aims to help the body return to a state of optimal health, whatever the potential of that person at that time. Patients primarily consult an osteopath with their body expressing the memory of a previous trauma, be it physical, psychological, or as is often the case, a combination of the two. This usually manifests itself as muscular tension and is experienced as pain.

It is the work of an osteopath to recognise and diagnose the cause of these symptoms, eliminating by a thorough medical examination any pathology which requires referral, and set about the process of  restoring a degree of healthy functioning to the whole body by means of “hands-on” treatment and deeply intuitive care.

Responsibility is ultimately returned to the patient in terms of exercise and lifestyle. Professional advice concerning this helps the patient maintain this recovered state of optimal health, with the osteopath remaining as a source of ongoing support and direction as required.

Osteopathy differs fundamentally from most orthodox medical interventions, which tend to treat the symptoms and not the cause. (As in the prescription of anti-inflammatories and pain killers).

Unlike doctors (Whose time can be scarce), osteopaths have time to listen to their patients and consider problems that may seem quite divorced, and yet are realistically pertinent to that patient’s overall well-being.