What is Osteopathy?
Osteopathy is a specific medical practice that addresses the treatment of medical disorders and injuries through the manipulation and massage of the neuro-musculo-skeletal systems. As such it’s a primary system of healthcare that works alongside more orthodox medical techniques. It’s one branch of medical practice and is complimentary to many others. It’s suitable for anyone.
As a manual but non-invasive therapy, Osteopaths typically work directly on muscles and joints and consider and treat the patient in a holistic yet individualized manner. No one treatment is the same. Common therapeutic techniques involve joint articulation and manipulation as well as deep tissue massage.
Osteopaths are trained to look at the body as a whole and assess the dynamic relationships between the many inter-related parts. Osteopaths recognize the importance of the body’s self-healing mechanisms and utilize this within treatment protocols.
The goal is to prevent, diagnose, and treat dysfunctions. It’s also fundamentally important to educate and empower the patient; Osteopaths help to explain how the body functions, compensates and heals, all of which are crucial for health, progression and well-being.
An Osteopathic treatment is typically gentle and will leave you feeling relaxed.
“To find health should be the object of the Osteopath, anyone can find disease”
Osteopathic Principles
At its core, osteopathy is made up of a series of principles and all osteopathic manual therapists adhere to these when treating.
The body is a unit
Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated
The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health maintenance
The rule of the artery is supreme