First of all an osteopath needs to understand your specific complaint, by listening carefully to your case history. This will involve talking about the issue that you want to be addressed, the type of symptoms that you have and when they developed. It will also be important for the osteopath to ask questions about your general health, any medications you might take, your past medical history, and any lifestyle issues that may be contributing to the problem. Through understanding these things, your osteopath is in a good position to understand why any problems may have arisen.
The next step will involve an osteopathic examination. The osteopath will look at your posture and assess how your spine and other joints move. It may be necessary to do other tests such as measuring your reflexes or blood pressure. The osteopath will then palpate (feel) the tone of your muscles and specifically examine other joints in the body in order to make a diagnosis.
When the examination is complete, the osteopath will discuss their findings with you and explain what kind of treatment is most appropriate. This will be followed by treatment itself. There are many different ways in which an osteopath can treat your body, ranging from specific massage techniques, articulation (movement) of joints, and manipulation (clicking). There are also more subtle techniques such as cranial osteopathy. Osteopathic treatment is generally quite gentle and the types of techniques used will depend on the specific needs of the patient. During the first visit, a treatment plan will be discussed. This may involve the need for follow up treatments, and may also aim to provide lifestyle advice or specific exercises to help you resolve the problem.
