Osteopathy
Osteopathy takes a holistic approach to the diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of medical conditions by looking at the whole body. It’s based on the principle that your wellbeing depends upon your bones, muscles, ligaments and connective tissue all functioning smoothly together.
Our osteopaths are registered with the General Osteopathic Council. They can help with the assessment and treatment of patients of any age from new-born to the elderly and any condition, from pregnant women to sports people.
They use physical manipulation, stretching and massage to increase the mobility of your joints, to relieve muscle tension, enhance the blood supply to your tissues, help your body’s own healing mechanisms and restore your body to a state of balance. Treatment will vary depending on your individual needs. They also provide advice on lifestyle, exercise, posture and dietary issues to help you with your recovery and prevent the symptoms happening again. Osteopaths do not use drugs or surgery.
Conditions we treat include: neck and back pain, shoulder pain, sports injuries, headaches, joint or muscular pain, arthritis, posture problems and hip, pelvis and leg problems.
General osteopathy
General osteopathy aims to improve your mobility and is particularly good for relieving pain in your joints and soft tissues. Our osteopaths will take the time to understand your symptoms, medical history and lifestyle together with any X-rays, scans and clinical investigations required to develop an accurate diagnosis of the causes of your pain or lack of function (rather than just addressing the site of the condition). They will then formulate a treatment plan to achieve the best outcome for your individual needs.
Our osteopaths will use a combination of movement, stretching, targeted deep tissue massage and manipulation of your muscles and joints to balance tensions and remove stiffness throughout your musculoskeletal system so that your organs, circulation, digestion and lymphatic system can function efficiently. This will also ease pain and aid recovery.
Chronic and acute back pain
One of the most common problems that patients seek our Osteopath’s help for is lower back pain. Osteopathic treatment can be used to address back pain and help prevent it from becoming a chronic, long-term condition.
Our osteopaths can assist with many back conditions including: acute back pain, chronic back pain, disc problems, mechanical back pain, sciatica, ankylosing spondylitis and osteoarthritis. They will use a variety of techniques including massage, mobilisation and exercise therapy.
Sports injuries
Many sports injuries are the result of overuse and playing too hard and too often or from not warming up or warming down properly before and after exercise. Other sports injuries may be due to the use of incorrect equipment such as ill-fitting footwear which can cause hip, knee and foot injury.
Osteopathy is suitable for a wide range of sporting injuries and rehabilitation. It can also help improve your performance and prevent further injury. Here at Ramsay Health Care UK we can help whether you’re a casual weekend runner or an elite athlete. Patients who partake in many different sporting activities come to us for treatment including football, rugby, tennis, running, skiing, dancing, golf and martial arts.
Our Osteopaths will consider all the factors, which may have led up to and contributed to the injury as these are often just as important as the injury itself and may slow or even prevent total repair. Common sporting injuries we treat include: achilles and biceps tendonitis, back, hip and foot pain, tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, knee problems, frozen shoulder, wrist injuries, sprains and strains, sciatica and RSI.
Visceral dysfunctions
Visceral dysfunctions relate to problems and pain of your internal organs called the viscera, specifically your chest and abdomen and including the lungs, diaphragm, liver, kidneys, stomach, small and large intestines, bladder and gynaecological organs, and their associated tissues.
Visceral osteopathy or visceral manipulation is the use of gentle manual therapy applied directly to the viscera to relieve imbalances and restrictions in the interconnections between the body’s organs and others structures, like muscles, fascia, ligaments and joints.
Visceral osteopathy can be used to treat many disorders. Some common ones include: whiplash and physical trauma, digestive problems such as bloating and constipation, swallowing problems, headaches, incontinence, back and neck pain, shoulder and hip pain, repetitive strain injuries and women’s health issues.