Orientation for Osteo Treatment

Through the years, there has been a large body of evidence suggesting that an active approach to treating people with chronic pain is superior to using passive modalities. For many clinicians, this has lead to an increased utilisation of exercise as a therapeutic intervention in the management of chronic pain. It’s possible to have osteoporosis and not even realize it until you experience a fracture. You can rebuild your bones by establishing strategic lifestyle habits and attending osteo seminars that will sustain a higher level of wellness for your whole body. Osteopathy is a hands on approach to healthcare recognising the important link between the structures of your body & the way it works. A visit to the chiropractor can help return or maintain motion in your spine. There are numerous chiropractic techniques, but spinal adjustment is one of the more common ones. You may need a series of chiropractic appointments to help treat you.

In osteo seminars, doctors and aspiring doctors will talk about:

·         Detailed case histories from new patients, including both general health (lifestyle and diet) and specific symptoms

·         Assess the patient's general posture and check for restrictions or tensions in joints or muscles by asking them to perform a series of active movements

·         Undertake physical examinations by using a highly refined sense of touch (palpation) to identify any restricted, weak or strained areas of the body

·         Working diagnosis and plan treatment in partnership with the patient

·         Provide appropriate treatments using soft tissue techniques, gentle release techniques and other appropriate methods, such as cranial osteopathy

·         Make lifestyle and dietary recommendations to patients in areas such as posture, eating, exercise and relaxation

·         Refer patients to their GP or other specialists, if required

·         Maintain accurate and up-to-date patient records.

Osteopaths focus on how your skeleton, joints, muscles, nerves and circulation work together to improve your health & well-being. There are multiple medications available to help you address symptoms. Your doctor will let you know which medications to try as well as when and how often to take them.

Here's a list of some commonly used medications:

• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (eg, aspirin)
• Acetaminophen (Tylenol)
• Anti-depressants
• Muscle relaxants

Chiropractors may use supplements, herbs, probiotics, homeopathy, Bach flowers and nutrition but its primary care objectives are to align spinal and other structural misalignments. Chiropractic examination and diagnostics are primarily based on which peripheral nerve distribution are involved as it relates to body dysfunction, disease and pain. In osteo seminars, you will learn to inspect a patient’s body, its shape and distortions, revealing the various postures one can have during sleep.  There are several types of structural distortions, each revealing a different sleep posture pattern. Incorporated with interpreting all of this is Chinese Medicine. It is both complementary and integrative. Whole meridians and accupoints are activated by way of neuro-associations. Chinese medical theory can be applied to how structural asymmetries result and how meridians and points can be accessed through neuro-associations for structural correction. 

Spinal and Back Pain Treatment

One of the main purposes of osteopathy is pain relief for back pains. Osteopathic adjustments help people of all ages who suffer from pain, tackling complaints ranging from work-related injuries to arthritis and sciatica. The osteopath’s role is to eliminate or decrease pain and improve the patient’s mobility in order to make their life more comfortable. One of the procedures of treatment is osteopathic adjustment or spinal manipulation, also called spinal manipulative therapy or manual therapy, combines moving and jolting joints, massage, exercise, and physical therapy. It's designed to relieve pressure on joints, reduce inflammation, and improve nerve function. It’s often used to treat back, neck, shoulder, and headache pain. Some people have instant relief whenever they undergo osteopathic adjustment. Others discover it can take weeks or months. Many factors can affect your recovery such as your age, how long you’ve had the problem, severity and keeping your appointments.

 While every people reacts differently in treatment, your osteopath doctor will be able to advise you on your likely recovery time. In most cases, you will feel a change for the better early on in your treatment plan. Most people do claim that they feel better and lighter after just one or two treatments of osteopathic adjustment, but the longer you’ve had it, the longer it will take to get it sorted. Your commitment to the recommended osteopathic adjustment treatment, home exercises and any diet or lifestyle adjustments will also determine your osteopathic adjustment outcome and your long term benefits from osteopathic care. Osteopathic adjustment has been proven to be medically safe, much safer than taking medication or surgery. The probability of risk is very low when compared to medical care due to drugs and surgery. Your osteopath will explain possible risks of treatment and discuss any concerns you may have prior to commencing with treatment.

With the patient sitting or lying down on a table, your osteopathy doctor will gently apply a precise amount of manual pressure in a specific direction. The pressure is applied either directly in the affected areas or at some distance away. It is used to put the tissues at ease and relaxed or to engage them at their functional limit in order for the treatment to take effect:

·         Treatment of structural and tissue abnormalities such as vertebrae, muscles and myofascial structures

·         Relieves joint restrictions and misalignment of bones

·         Restores circulation of muscle and tissue balance

During osteopathic adjustments, you will notice a sound while on the process which lubricating fluids separate the bones of each spinal joint. A medical research team have concluded that the sound you hear results from gas rushing in to fill a partial vacuum when the joint are slightly separated. The osteopath evaluates each patient’s unique problem and develops an individual custom tailored care programme. This is based on years of training, experience, patient’s age and health status. The number of osteopathic adjustment treatment varies with each patient and their individual health goals.

 Chronic cases may require months or even years of treatment. Problems that you have neglected and untreated for a long period of time may require on-going care for optimal function while other acute problems may only require a few appointments. In any event visits become less often as your spine and body stabilises. But it is important to remember that each visit builds and slowly improves your condition on the one before.

Manipulation of Osteopathy for Spontaneous Self-correction

There are subtle that it feels to the patient as if nothing is happening in some osteopathic techniques. As such a short series of blogs to try and explain what these techniques are doing. It can be a bit of a mystery to patients. They understand massage and stretching but the more subtle techniques can be puzzling. It often the patients when asked about their treatment. The approach was to try and systemize what osteopaths had been doing in practice for some time and try to get some sort of explanation for what they were doing and why it worked. The technique involved slow small controlled movements with no quick moves.

For those anatomical areas most closely related to osteopathic techniques for proper function of the middle ear and eustachian tube. No dietary restrictions were imposed. Antibiotics were administered if the patient’s clinical picture suggested acute bacterial infection. No antihistamines were used, but in four cases the child was prescribed a decongestant/mucolytic. Clinical response was determined by visual inspection of the tympanic membrane with and without pneumatic otoscopy, time to first recurrence of acute infection, time to first recurrence of effusion, and duration of effusion when it recurred.

Benefits of osteopathic adjustment; reduce or eliminate headaches or migraines, increase circulation and promote healing, improve or eliminate chronic pain, and improve digestion and overall bowel function. Osteopaths make adjustment with increasing the joint and improving the nerve and blood supply to it, to encourage the healing process. It’s not the bones that are ‘cracking’; the popping sound in an adjustment comes from the shifting of the special lubricating fluids and gas that surround each spinal joint. The sound, if it occurs, is fascinating, but it isn’t a guide to the quality or effectiveness of an adjustment.

There are also several deeper advanced procedures that are especially suited to the more chronic conditions such as neurological conditions and complex structural cases. Osteo seminar has been designed to advance the osteospinal operating system. A myriad of new mini-protocols and clinical tricks that are quick to apply yet add instant potency. Variety and specify will expand and potencies the osteospinal operating system. The main emphasis of the seminar is on potentiating, refinement, and adaptation.

The only clinic in the area to offer computer-guided spinal decompression therapy is osteopathic spinal solution. It is a chronic, painful condition of the cervical and lumbar spine; for patients with disc disease, sciatica, stenosis, radioculopathy and other painful spinal disorders. Decompression is a non-surgical spinal rehabilitation program for chronic conditions of the spine. Decompression therapy works by reducing intradiscal pressure and promotes the healing of injured disc material. It can strengthen spinal ligaments and help prevent future recurrence of injury. Painful conditions of the cervical spine (neck) and lumbar spine (lower back) can be successfully managed with decompression therapy.  The patients return to a life without pain and more active lifestyle.

Acupuncture, massage and exercise methods such as Pilates, may be effective treatments to assist with both the long and short term treatment and recovery of back and spinal pain. They are often used to complement standard medical care and can sometimes help to reduce reliance on pain relieving medications.

Acupressure

Acupressure is an art of healing that involves putting physical pressure, by hand, elbow, feet or with the support of various devices, on distinct pressure points on top of the body which may be far away from the symptom, related to what is called the meridian system. And deliver relief through greater balance and a good blood circulation and metabolic energies in the body.

It alleviates the body’s pain and medical conditions, specific pressure is applied to the trigger points of the body. The reason behind putting the pressure to these trigger points is to bring back the body to its natural balance. Restoring the body’s balance back to its normal level is considered to relieve pain and diseases. 

Numerous acupressure techniques applied in an acupressure therapy include pressing, gentle stretching, rubbing and rolling, grasping, kneading, and chafing, along with corrective exercises. Different levels of pressure are being used, commonly starting by applying a light pressure and slowly working deeper. The practitioner may put more energy or pressure on distinct point or series of points, depending on the patient’s main complaint, or the entire course of a meridian may be discussed.

An acupressure technique involves stimulation of key points that are located on different part of a human body. The most frequently stimulated points are located in the spine, feet and hands. Base on the trigger points that are to be stimulated, patient may be asked to take a sit on a chair or lie down flat on a massage table.

Acupressure therapy can also relieve emotional pain. From everyday pressures to life's most serious trials, emotional stress causes the body to cease down, which retains negative feelings to be stuck, resulting in physical illness and emotional imbalances. An acupressure technique clears this muscular tension and brings back the flow of vital energy, making resolution possible. The therapy reduces muscular tension, promotes circulation, and enables a nice deep relaxation. By alleviating stress, Acupressure Therapy strengthens resistance to illness and promotes wellness. 

Either from stress, trauma, or an injury, energy blockages can be seen to the root of all health problems. A patient’s energy flow affects how they feel, how they think, and how they breathe. Just like negative thoughts can block someone’s energy flow, positive thoughts can enhance your healing energy. When there is a blockage of body's life-force energy, different emotional imbalances and physical manifestations also arises. These energy blockages transpire at the acupressure points. Using a variety of acupressure techniques ranging from light touch, tapping, and to simply holding the points, the body's life energy is capable to flow and rebalance.

Acupressure results are various depending on some factors such as the severity of the condition, the type of illness, the patient’s age, and the level of knowledge of the therapist. It is known to be useful in pain and symptom management like in nausea and headache. 

It takes a few sessions before the desired results can be attained. There are also times when it doesn’t totally cure the symptoms or illness but may help make it more manageable.