Manual Osteopathy
Manual osteopathy is a non-invasive, hands-on treatment that works with the structures of the body, mainly musculoskeletal, to help with any dysfunctions. Treatment is done based on the body as a whole, not only focusing on the areas of pain, to balance the body for optimal health and wellbeing. This is done through several techniques that will stretch and strengthen muscles, ligaments, and tendons, helping the body relax. The overall goal is to help your body heal itself after treatment and prevent dysfunction in the future. Most patients feel immediate relief following treatment and experience very minimal side effects.
Techniques Used:
Joint Mobilization: is putting the joint through its ranges of motion, gradually increasing its mobility to free any restrictions. It helps to decrease the pain in the area through therapeutic holds that release endorphins that relax the body and are known as natural pain killers.
Muscle Energy Techniques (METs): is a voluntary contraction of the patients muscle against a controlled counterforce from a precise position and specific direction. Then there is a relaxation period and finished with the stretching of the muscle(s) contracted. Used to improve muscle function, motion, tone, and flexibility while decreasing pain and muscle spasms.
Soft Tissue Therapy (STT): manipulate soft tissue surrounding joints to promote relaxation, help in the healing and recovery process, increase function, reduce muscle reflex activity, and suppress motor neuron excitability.
Visceral Manipulation: our bodies need movement to be healthy and same goes for our viscera.
Organs need to have motion for optimal function and health, otherwise they can get stiff and cause pain. Our internal organs are all interconnected and may cause pain in areas that you wouldn’t think of as a problem. Visceral manipulation is applied to our organs by gentle and specifically placed manual forces to encourage normal areas where physiologic motion is impaired.
Cranial Osteopathy: works with the ‘flow’ and pressure of the fluid surrounding the brain and down the spinal cord by releasing tension using the cranium and sacrum as levers. It is a very gentle technique used to relax the central nervous system by various holds on skull bones, along the spine, and the pelvic area. Practitioners use what is called your primary respiratory mechanism (the movement of the central nervous system) to listen to your body and get it back to a normal ‘flow’. This helps relax your CNS making it easier to work on neuromusculoskeletal problems.
Benefits of Manual Osteopathy...
1. Promote deeper breathing: This is vital as we need oxygen to circulate properly throughout the body to help with growth and promote healing. Having a decrease in oxygen circulation can cause headaches, aches, and muscle pain that could turn into a significant problem over time. Increasing the oxygen in the body will naturally release toxins and negative energy within the body.
2. Improve posture: Working on the spine and the surrounding tissue to become more flexible and agile will slowly and naturally improve posture. Proper posture allows for better breathing and less strain in the body.
3. Improve circulation: Treatment allows for increased circulation, removes toxins in the blood, and promotes fresh energy to circulate. Having proper circulation helps with quicker muscle recovery, growth, and healing in the body. Also, improving blood and lymph circulation allows for strength gain and increases energy level.
4. Increase and promote joint flexibility: Repetitive strain or overused joints build up tension and can create future problems. Treatment can relieve that stored tension and boosts flexibility of the joint after rest.
5. Enhance a calm mind: Treatment allows for a calm state of mind by relaxing the body. This mind set can reduce stressful thoughts, increase creative thoughts, and develop and organize thoughts.
6. Reduce anxiety: Anxiety is stored in low back, shoulders, abdomen, and neck; by relieving tension in these areas the mind can ‘let go’ of the anxiety and feel a freeing sensation.
7. Increase self-awareness: Our bodies have a connection to our mind that most people forget because we are in the ‘mind-only’ mode. Getting that connection back can increase ease of movement, feel more centered, and boost state of well-being.
8. Prevent injury and sometimes death: The number 1 cause of accident related death in seniors is a fall on the hip and fracture of the femur bone, puncturing the femoral artery. This is incidentally caused by weak bones and lack of muscle protection. With treatment using muscle energy techniques (METs) seniors can gain muscle tone and increase range of motion of joints, therefore improving function and balance, preventing a fall and a fracture.
9. Chronic and acute pain relief: Manual osteopathic treatment increases the release of Beta Endorphin in the body which is a natural pain killer. Therefore, increasing the release of it will decrease your pains.
10. Improve athletic performance: structure governs function and this is no different for athletes. Treatment fixes the structural issues and the athlete gains back lost function through techniques that stretch and strengthen muscles, ligaments, and tendons. These will then improve function, balance, muscle tone, range of motion and flexibility.
11. Decrease muscle tension and spasm: mobilization of the joints and muscle energy techniques (METs) stop the pain/spasm cycle by affecting numerous nervous pathways.
Conditions Treated
Treatment is not limited to the conditions listed below, you can always inquire about other conditions by emailing or calling the clinic.
– Back pain
– Neck pain
– Herniated/bulging discs
– Tendonitis or bursitis
– Sciatica
– Jaw pain and TMJ syndromes
– Chronic pain
– Acute pain
– Headaches or migraines
– Ligament or muscle sprains
– Digestive disorders
– Circulatory problems
– Genitourinary problems
– Sinus congestion/ irritation
– Tinnitus
Side Effects
Although manual osteopathic treatment has an excellent safety record, no treatment is completely free of potential side effects. The risks associated with manual osteopathy are very minimal including muscle soreness, aching in areas worked, headaches, lightheaded, and nausea. Everyone is different and may react differently, but most symptoms will clear up within 48 hours after treatment.
Read more about our Manual Osteopath here...
