About osteopathy

Restoring a state of balance

Osteopaths are trained to have an in depth knowledge of our bodies’ structure and function. By structure we mean our anatomy, our bones, blood vessels, nerves and so on. By function we mean physiology, how our anatomy works to keep our bodies fit and healthy.

Osteopaths believe that when we are healthy, our bodies are pain free. We function in a state of optimal anatomical and physiological balance. Many things happen to us in our lives that alter this state of balance. We fall ill, have accidents and injuries, we may experience long term stress. These situations can disturb our ‘optimal balance’, and we experience pain or illness.

Using manual hands on techniques, osteopaths work to restore the imbalances found within the body. Effective osteopathic treatment aims to restore a state of health, reducing pain.

What do Osteopaths treat?

Osteopaths treat the whole person, not the condition.

Osteopaths are probably best known for their treatment of back and neck pain. However, patients often report that they feel improvement in many areas of their health following osteopathic treatment. The Advertising Standards Agency only allows us to mention conditions that large scale clinical trials have proven. These include:

• General aches and pains
• Uncomplicated mechanical neck pain
• Circulatory problems
• Neuralgia
• Fibromyalgia

For a more comprehensive list see www.cap.org.uk/Advice-Training-on-the-rules/Advice-Online-Database/Therapies-Osteopathy.aspx

The osteopathic profession is relatively small, only a few thousand practitioners in the UK, as opposed to several hundred thousand GPs. Most Osteopaths are clinicians because that is their passion, few enter the world of research, and even fewer manage to attract enough funding for large scale clinical trials. Most large clinical trials are funded by drug companies, and Osteopaths do not have prescribing rights for drugs.

For this reason data is not currently available for many of the conditions that our patients report to have improved, and so we cannot mention them here.

If you have a condition you would like to discuss please do not hesitate to call us on 01737 224488.

Training and qualifications

All osteopaths undergo a minimum of four years rigorous training at undergraduate level. During that time they must complete a minimum of 1,000 hours treating patients in the college clinics.

Upon qualifying osteopaths must be accepted onto the register of the General Osteopathic Council (GOSc) The GOSc are our state regulating body, they ensure that we adhere to our code of practice, meet fitness to practice criteria and annual continuing professional development requirements. They also monitor and deal with any complaints made concerning the profession.

For further information see www.osteopathy.org.uk

At Nutley lane we are passionate about osteopathy, we are committed to delivering excellence in our practice. We provide a supportive learning environment for our osteopaths to work in, often discussing difficult cases, sharing learning experiences, and reflecting on cases. Where possible, and with patients permission we will often have two osteopaths involved in the treatment session, as this provides a great learning experience for us, and ensures that we are providing our patients with the best possible care.

What is cranial osteopathy?

All osteopaths use a variety of osteopathic techniques, many of which are learned at undergraduate level. Cranial osteopathy describes a series of techniques involving very small degrees of movement, which can be used on any part of the body. The techniques are very gentle and are particularly appropriate when treating children, babies and pregnant women.

At Nutley Lane, we have extensive experience in this area, this is because we insist that all our osteopaths study these techniques in greater depth at post-graduate level. Most of our post-graduate training is done through the Sutherland Cranial College or the Osteopathic Centre for Children in London.