What is Osteopathy
Osteopathy, that is something about bones, right?
This is a comment I hear frequently after I tell someone I am an osteopath. There is some truth to this statement, but there is a lot more to it than just bones. The word 'osteo' means 'bone' and 'pathy' means 'disease'. Therefore it isn't strange that so many associate osteopathy with bones. But what is osteopathy really?
Osteopathy is a form of movement therapy that focuses on the body as a whole. An osteopath not only takes into account how the muscles and bones move and work together, but also how the organs and membranes influence the presenting complaint. An osteopath does not use any medication or equipment for this treatment and therefore does everything through touch and exercises. In case the osteopath thinks that you would benefit from medication or any X-rays or an MRI, the osteopath will refer you to your GP, who will then help you with the correct treatment plan.
Osteopathy helps by maintaining the balance in the body as much as possible. In most cases this works fairly quickly, meaning you are done after 2-4 treatment and no longer suffer from the complaint. In other cases, the complaint is strongly influenced by something you often do in daily life. In that case, it is advisable to see how long a treatment is effective. I.e. you feel well 2 months after the treatment, but then you notice that the old complaint slowly comes back, we recommend that you make a new appointment after 7 weeks so that we are exactly ahead of this happening. You will notice that you will need fewer and fewer appointments, but most likely the complaint will come back until you adjust the daily activity that disturbs the balance.