A few points about Osteopathy
Osteopathy is a gentle therapy.
Each person is considered as an entity.
The Osteopath:
Treats the patient with his hands.
Acts on mechanical and functional disorders of the human body.
Focuses on the causes of pathologies rather than their effects.
Harmonizes the structures of the body.
The treatment has a lasting effect.
Allows the patient’s body to restore its balance.
Offers a complementary treatment which does not replace traditional medicine.
Works with other health practitioners in order to offer a multidisciplinary care for patients.
What is osteopathy?
Osteopathy is defined as a manual medicine, concerned with functional disorders of the human body. The osteopath, the watchmaker of the body, uses his hands in different ways to establish an osteopathic diagnosis and to provide a treatment. Through various mobility tests, the osteopath checks out the state of the various systems of the human body, such as the articular (vertebral or peripheral), the visceral or cranial.
The training of an osteopath comprises a complete study of anatomy, biomechanics and physiology systems, as well as precise palpation techniques that help him develop an accurate palpatory sensation of his hands, the tools of his work.
An osteopathic examination goes beyond a specific examination of the different systems, and evaluates their interrelations. Both mechanical and neurophysiological systems are tested, in order to discover the cause of pain, the so-called primary dysfunction. Indeed, this primary dysfunction can often lead to a series of secondary problems and remote symptoms: these will not disappear until the cause has been effectively treated.
Osteopathy is not solely concerned with a symptom or a disease, but considers the patient as an entity to be apprehended as a totality, as a wholeness.
Osteopathic art aims, through precise osteopathic diagnosis and adapted manual techniques, to address functional problems, to restore and to maintain health, and to prevent pathological states. It does not propose to cure degenerative, genetic, infectious, or neoplastic pathologies. On the other hand, it can have an effect on the consequences of these pathologies (especially pain) and can help the organism to fight the disease more easily. Osteopathy will no longer be an etiopathic therapy but a complementary palliative therapy that should not be overlooked.
Osteopathy is an art, a philosophy and a science:
- An Art, because it is a manual therapy that is based on specific skills and knowledge of the human body; it requires a precise, meticulous and exact touch, according to the patients and the pathology to be treated.
- A Philosophy, because it is interested in each person as a whole entity. It is not so much the symptom that interests the osteopath as the cause that generates it.
- A science that incorporates anatomical, physiological, biomechanical and biological knowledge in order to preserve and maintain health.
How long until one gets better?
Your osteopath, after the first or second consultation, will evaluate how you have responded to the treatment and will give you a clear idea of how many appointments you may need
The majority of acute problems (less than 3 months) can be improved in 1 to 3 sessions.
Chronic conditions (longer than 6 months) can be improved in 5 to 8 sessions.
These are only indicative and depend on your general health, pre-existing and / or concomitant clinical conditions, and your ability to modify certain aspects that may adversely affect your clinical condition (stress level, working position, physical exercise etc)
Refer if necessary
Depending on the evolution of your clinical condition, your osteopath may be able to refer you to another medical or paramedical professional, for example a physiotherapist, a chiropodist or a dentist. He may also suggest that you go back to your doctor and talk to him about your clinical condition.
