Natures Cure
Osteopathy comes under the heading of ‘Naturopathy’ (natures cure). I am often saying that an osteopath cannot ‘fix’ you, but an osteopath can most definitely help you to help yourself - Osteopathic treatment therefore is a sort of partnership – as osteopaths help the body to function better and therefore alleviate discomfort, dis-ease and pain.
A good osteopath will give you advice to help address these underlying issues - improve desk setups, posture, good habits to get into, bad habits to get out of (yes, easier said than done!) and other self-help tools particularly to suit your lifestyle. We both have to bear in mind that no one will be perfect all the time but if you can be diligent most of the time, say 80%, then you will get away with the other 20%!
An example of one of nature’s best healers, that is often underestimated, is rest. There are lots of things we do to help problems (take anti-inflammatories or pain killers etc.) but we also need ‘good’ physical rest to give the body both time to structurally realign, and gain enough energy to heal itself. However rest, like most things, should be done in certain ways for certain problems (different laying positions) moderation - for no more than 30 minutes at a time or you may cease up. Then get up and move/potter or walk about depending on the severity of your symptoms. This can also help with chronic long term back problems when it is often muscular fatigue that is an issue.
So although it may appear that I ‘nag’ (my patients will understand this!) suggesting things to avoid, and doing more of others, we are actually trying to instil ‘natures treatment’ that will see you through the days/weeks/months/years, before we see you again, and hopefully we will see you in a better condition for when we get another 30 minutes to straighten you out!!
