Osteopathy in Durham
What is Osteopathy?
Osteopathy is not just for backs! It is a way of detecting a wide range of conditions, treating and preventing these by moving, stretching and massaging your muscles and joints.
Osteopathy is based on the principle that your wellbeing depends on your bones, muscles, ligaments and connective tissue functioning smoothly together, and recognising the body’s ability to heal itself.
Osteopaths use physical manipulation, stretching and massage with the aim of:
- increasing the mobility of joints
- relieving muscle tension
- enhancing the blood supply to tissues
- helping the body to heal
How does the treatment work?
Your osteopath aims to restore the normal function and stability of your muscles and joints to help the body heal itself.
They will use their hands to treat your body in a variety of ways, using a mixture of gentle and forceful techniques. If you’re looking for a more gentle therapy, we recommend you consider the Bowen Technique.
The techniques your osteopath will choose for you are chosen based on your individual needs, and the symptoms you have reported.
Osteopathy treatment may include:
- massage – to release and relax muscles
- stretching – manipulating muscles and stiff joints
- articulation – where your joints are moved through their natural range of motion
- high-velocity thrusts – short, sharp movements to the spine, which normally produce a clicking noise similar to cracking your knuckles
These techniques will aim to reduce pain, improve movement and encourage blood flow.
Treatment isn’t usually painful, although it’s not unusual to feel sore or stiff in the first few days after treatment, particularly if you’re having treatment for a painful or inflamed injury.
Will Osteopathy help me?
We see hundreds of people each year with similar problems to yours. The most common are caused by work and sports injuries, but the other little things you do, or don’t do each day, can all have an effect. That’s where we come in!
Your body is subjected to different types of strain every day. These can result from the way you sit, working at a computer, from standing for long periods, from repetitive motion, overworking, under-resting or from accidental injury. Your body absorbs all these strains.
Usually the regeneration process works silently without you even knowing. However, sometimes things go wrong and you are left feeling pain, discomfort, immobile and vulnerable.
An Osteopath can facilitate the regeneration process – principally by the practice of touch, physical manipulation, stretching and massage to increase the mobility of joints, to relieve muscle tension, to enhance the blood and nerve supply to tissues, and to help your body’s own healing mechanisms.