Benefits of Osteopathy: Our role in common complaints
Have you ever wondered what osteopathy can help with? If so, you’re in the right place. Osteopaths treat a wide range of conditions (it’s not just backs!) but some conditions are more commonly seen due to their prevalence in everyday life. Whether it’s a new ache or a persistent issue, osteopathy has got you covered, with treatments that focus on the whole body, not just symptoms. In this blog, we’ll look at the main diagnoses osteopaths treat and why it could be just what you need.
We can help with joint pain…anywhere!
We are often asked if we deal with feet. Or hands. Or elbows. And the answer is yes! The common misconception is that osteopaths only treat backs, but this isn’t the case. An osteopath’s training is 4 years and a huge part of that is obtaining a very detailed understanding of the human body’s anatomy. Therefore, we can help to treat joint pain caused by repetitive strain, injuries and arthritis. Common conditions we see often are frozen shoulder, tennis elbow and ankle ligament sprains.
How osteopathy can be of aid:
With techniques designed to improve joint mobility, reduce inflammation, ease muscle tension and support tissue healing, osteopaths help get you moving without pain. Whether it’s your knees, hips, shoulders, or elbows, osteopathy helps restore function and improve flexibility so you can get back to doing what you love.
However, the most common complaints include:
1. Back Pain
Ok, we know you know this one. It is certainly the main complaint patients have and for good reason. The spine and back musculature are involved in all movements, whether sitting, standing or walking. The joints of the spine must support the weight of the skull and are exposed to multiple forces going through them (especially when you are sitting or leaning forwards to pick something up) which can cause wearing of the spine’s shock absorbers, the intervertebral discs. Strength of the core muscles (like a deep corset around your spine and abdomen) is vital for protecting your spinal joints, and fatigue of these muscles is another common cause of back pain.
How Osteopathy Supports Back Pain Sufferers:
An osteopath will use hands-on techniques like massage, mobilisation and stretching to encourage your joints and muscles to move freely. They’ll also look at how you move (or don’t move!) in your daily life and offer advice on how to improve your posture and adjust certain habits to prevent the likelihood of flare ups.
2. Neck Pain
Ever heard of tech neck? It refers to the pain in your neck that builds from sitting hunched over your laptop or phone for hours each day. Your skull weighs approximately 4kg when your spine is in an upright, neutral position. However, each degree of forward head posture causes more pressure to be added to the spine. By the time your head is at a 60-degree angle, the weight of the head is around 27kg! A quick Google search has shown me this is the equivalent of carrying a sea otter (random) around on your head. Not good.
How Osteopathy Can Assist with Neck Pain:
Technology is so integral to our everyday lives that we must adapt and prepare our bodies accordingly. An osteopath can ease the tension in the neck and upper back muscles, mobilise and manipulate the joints to move freely and, very importantly, give you neck strengthening exercises and postural advice to better support your upper body.
3. Headaches (Cervicogenic and Tension)
Cervico-what? Cervicogenic translates as ‘coming from the neck’ and is one of the more common types of headaches that patients present with and that osteopaths can really make a difference to. This type of headache can be due to a trapped nerve in the neck or dysfunction at the area where your skull meets the spine – the occipito-atlantal joints. Poor posture and tech neck (see above!) would contribute to this. This type of headache usually tends to affect one side your head and often refers round to the back of the eye.
A tension headache is also very common and is usually due to a more generalised tension at the muscles of the upper back, shoulders, neck and jaw. Main symptoms are a dull ache at the forehead or around the sides of the head, like a tight band around your head.
An Osteopathic Perspective to Headaches:
Osteopaths don’t just treat the head—they look at your whole body to figure out what’s really causing those headaches. They could be exacerbated by rounded shoulders, weak back muscles or a pelvic imbalance. An osteopath will focus on releasing tension in the neck and shoulders with gentle manipulation and work on the base of the skull and epicranial muscles (situated on the skull). Plus, we can offer advice on lifestyle tweaks, like ergonomic improvements to help keep those headaches at bay.
4. Sports Injuries
Whether you’re a regular at the gym or you just play the occasional weekend sport, injuries happen. Sprains, strains, and overuse injuries can leave you hobbling around for days (or weeks) if they don’t heal properly. Which is no fun.
Osteopathy’s role in getting you back to your activities:
Osteopaths are experts at treating sports injuries—they’ll focus on speeding up your recovery by improving blood flow, reducing inflammation, and restoring movement. Not only that, but they’ll help strengthen the area around your injury to prevent it from happening again. If you want to get back in the game quickly and safely, osteopathy can definitely help.
Find out more
So, there you have it - osteopathy can help with most physical aches and pains! If you’ve got something that’s been niggling you, contact our experienced osteopaths in Uxbridge and Ealing by emailing Kate on kate@bridgetohealth.co.uk or phone the clinic reception on 01895 200050 to get a convenient time sorted for you at our Uxbridge or Ealing clinics.
