All three professions are great manual health workers which strive to achieve the best for the community. As an Osteopath I would like to say that our area of expertise is that we like to treat the body as a whole and not as purely body parts. We look at different strain patterns throughout the body that might have been compensating for many years due to previous injuries, and treat these weaknesses and strains in order to return the body to optimal posture. Also prescribe relevant exercises to help regain strength and alignment.

Osteopaths are Primary care practitioners, therefore, are qualified to make their own diagnosis. Your Osteopath will then refer you to a General Practitioner or further investigations if deemed necessary.

Depending on your case, you may be referred for X-rays if deemed necessary. However, not all patients are referred for routine X-rays.

As Osteopathy is very gentle and can adapt different treatment styles according to a patients’ need, anybody from babies to the elderly can benefit from osteopathic treatment.

The purpose of the treatment is not to hurt. In general the treatment is very relaxing, techniques are used to realign the structures back into position. However if the area is inflamed, gentle touch may cause slight discomfort, but relay this to your practitioner and another technique can be applied.

This varies from case to case and can often depend on severity of the problem or the length of time that the problem has been present. However simple ailments should often settle in 1-3 treatments and chronic problems may take up to 10 treatments.

Osteopathy believes in the bodies own ability to heal so in general does not like to prescribe drugs into the treatment process. Vitamins and supplements may be prescribed if deemed necessary.

No, we use a procedure called cranial technique which uses a very gentle force to realign the bones back into position. This process does not hurt and can be applied to anybody of any age group.