Osteopathy can treat a range of health conditions, from
sports injuries to back, neck and shoulder pain, headaches, migraines and
chronic fatigue. Osteopathy views the
body as a whole and osteopathic biomechanics will often evaluate and treat the
whole body, from head to feet, looking at symmetry (or asymmetry) in the
pelvis, and the alignment of the spine, neck and head. Even if treating a local condition (e.g. a
tennis elbow, knee, shoulder, back problem, or headache) it is good to see the
'whole picture' and interconnections between tissues, mechanical loading, and
muscle balance. E.g. headaches can often
originate from the neck; or a back or knee problem can sometimes involve a
pelvic torsion, or leg length inequality.
The advantage of this (osteopathic whole body) approach is
often better treatment results, and less
reoccurrence of both pain and injury. The
function and load bearing of the body can be improved, and this results in less
pain and faster tissue-healing from injury.
Additionally osteopathic treatment (and rehabilitation) can help with
enhanced performance, through greater resilience and better overall alignment,
symmetry and muscle balance, (hopefully) resulting in less occurrence of future
injury.
Most Osteopaths work with ACC, and an Osteopath can lodge a
new ACC claim for you. (There is no need
to visit your GP for a sports or muscle injury, unless you want to, and there
is no need for a GP referral) The ACC
surcharge for Osteopathy can be a little higher than Physiotherapy, typically
the Osteopathic surcharge for an ACC treatment being around $40 (although this
varies according to location). However,
an Osteopathic treatment is longer (typically 30 to 40 minutes) than either
Physiotherapy or Chiropractic. And one
may find an Osteopathic treatment more thorough, with detailed attention paid
to the whole body and alignment, and any altered global biomechanics, that may
be underpinning or predisposing you to any issue.
Osteopaths also treat front as well as the back, and there
are gentle organ specific fascial mobilisations to viscera (liver, duodenum,
stomach, intestines, etc) where restrictions and issues can sometimes cause a
range of problems from pain to fatigue, irritable bowel and so on.
For more on this please see:
http://www.christchurch-osteopathy-acupuncture.co.nz/osteopathy/visceralOsteopathy.html
There are many good Osteopaths in NZ. To find your nearest Osteopath contact the
Osteopathic Council NZ
If you are in Christchurch or the South Island, you might
want to look at
or
Mike Inman
BSc (hons) Osteopathy (UK)
No comments:
Post a Comment