There are a wide variety of symptoms, conditions and ailments that can be relieved by visiting a good osteopath. Using a holistic approach to restoring balance to the body through relieving tension and realigning the musculoskeletal systems, osteopathy can often hold the key to giving back many patients control in their lives.
In this blog, we will identify some of the most common symptoms and conditions that osteopathy treats and relieves. As expert osteopaths based in Reading, we’ve treated plenty of patients effectively using osteopathy, all coming to us citing pain or tension in certain parts of their bodies.
What Symptoms Can Osteopathy Help With?
Osteopathy is designed to treat the whole body in a holistic way, assessing how the body’s individual parts work in harmony (or in this case not) with each other.
Headaches and Migraines
Due to the tension and strain that is often associated with headaches and migraines, osteopathy goes a long way in relieving the aforementioned tensions. The reason for most headaches and migraines occurring can be put down to a variety of factors, however, they all commonly come with spinal tension and tightness around the neck muscles.
Sufferers of frequent headaches or migraines should look to book a consultation with an osteopath to help them with their symptoms. Our team of brilliant osteopaths based here in Upper Basildon will first assess the patient for all their symptoms, working out where the biggest pain points may be before setting to work. Their assessment also extends to muscles and joints such as the jaw and skull as these are also places that harbour tension resulting in headaches and migraines.
We often suggest our patients add cranial osteopathy to their treatment if they’re suffering from headaches and migraines. Our team will assess any high-tension areas in the skull and look to release the tension.
Back Pain (Upper and Lower)
Back pain, no matter how severe, can be debilitating and affect your day-to-day life. It is easy to feel disheartened when back pain returns, especially when you can’t pinpoint it to something specific you’ve done i.e. a sporting injury. Simple tasks such as sitting, walking and bending over to pick something up can become painful and drawn-out affairs. This is why it is important to visit an osteopath as soon as your back pain occurs, especially if it’s returning pain.
Through careful assessment and analysis, our osteopaths will be able to identify the likely cause of your pain and supply you with the correct guidance to ease the pain. Guidance may include simple exercises to ensure your back is moving correctly, advice on your posture and then will revert to spine and muscle treatment to help release tension.
Can Osteopathy Help With Sciatica?
Yes, osteopathy can be great for people who suffer from sciatica. As a common condition that causes pain to radiate from the lower back down to the leg, an osteopath is well-placed to help alleviate any discomfort. This condition is usually caused by compression or irritation of the sciatic nerve.
Treatment includes ways to reduce inflammation and pressure on the sciatic nerve. These include stretching, massages, and muscle energy techniques. After treatment, an osteopath will help the patient with their rehabilitation, focusing on mobility and rebuilding strength.
Neck Pain
In the modern day, we are finding that because lots of people are sitting at their desks, usually in precarious and unnatural positions, they are developing pain and tension across their bodies without really trying. One pain we’re seeing more often than not is neck pain. Using your phone or computer in a poor posture can quite easily lead to neck pain.
Being quite a sensitive area of the body, the neck requires assessment before any action is taken by an osteopath to correct it. However, we find that once treatment is complete, patients respond quickly to the changes and find they suffer from less tension, thanks to the release a handful of techniques can provide. These include manipulation of the spine, massages and gentle stretches, all designed to release stress and tension.
Sports Injuries
Whether it’s an impact injury or a strain, missing sporting matches and practices can be frustrating for those involved. You may be wondering how an osteopath can help an athlete recover from an injury to a specific area, but that’s where we come in. As osteopathy focuses on the body as a whole, we look to treat patients in a way that strengthens and stabilises parts of the body that support the affected area.
For example, if you have sustained a knee injury whilst playing tennis as you go to hit the ball low off the surface, your body relies on your hips and ankle to support your knee. The injury may have occurred due to tension build-up in both these areas. Our assessment would be able to identify this and then address it with a series of manipulations, massages and stretches. After treatment, we help our patients with rehabilitation, focusing on rebuilding their strength to reduce the chance of the injury happening again.
Poor Posture
Poor posture can lead to a whole host of problems and pains, especially in areas like the upper and lower back. With so many people now occupying desks for long periods due to work commitments, we’re seeing more people than ever with bad posture, ultimately leading to chronic pain and tension. After all, it is a long time to be sitting in one place, with your head thrust towards a screen, exaggerated even more if your vision isn’t perfect.
A good osteopath will work with you to correct your posture, build good habits and help you reduce the tension in your back and neck. We tend to find that patients who come to us with poor posture have weaker areas than others, meaning they are unable to maintain correct posture for an extended period. Our team of osteopaths based here in the Reading area will work with them to strengthen these weaker areas, making it easier to build good habits.
Book Your Osteopathy Appointment Today
Think osteopathy might be the best route for your symptoms? Book a consultation with one of our brilliant osteopaths here at The Orchard Clinic, based in the Reading area. For more information on what this process might look like, please visit our booking guidance and if you’re still unsure, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.
