A sedentary lifestyle has been seen more often in the present day scenario among people. In America, it is estimated that majority of people maintain stiff posture in front of computer screens for more than 1/3rd of the day.
Few people are following a disciplined approach in their lives, as a result of which painful conditions of musculoskeletal system have become quite common. By this kind of affliction, it is meant that there is in-co-ordination of muscles, joints, and nerves.
In recent times, more and more people are taking up natural therapies for their bone, muscle and joints problems. They do not want to go for drugs and surgical procedures, rather find improved relief with the visits to osteopaths.
Of late, there has been an increase in the number of osteopathic practitioners in America, with clinics being opened by these qualified doctors and patients becoming aware of these types of practitioners. If you are having problems of back pain or joint pain, try to find out an osteopathy center near you with good and experienced osteopathy doctors because this can help in giving much relief to your problems.
What is an Osteopath
An osteopath is a doctor who specializes in bone and muscular problems and may have had an allopathic degree. Different streams of allopathic and naturopathic doctors can pursue the course of osteopathy treatment, but they need to have accreditation by American Osteopathic Association along with having a license to practice in the United States.
This field of treatment is known as osteopathy, in which holistic approach is taken up, and there is treatment aimed at providing wellness rather than symptomatic therapy. The idea is to have treatment using hands more often, for improved circulation and correcting the biomechanics of the body instead of using drugs as a first resort. Although osteopaths do use other regular medical methods of treatment, they are more specialized in this particular method of correcting the body system as a whole.
Such osteopathy doctors focus on providing manual methods of treatment for balancing body systems and ensure well being on an overall scale. This is also known as Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine or OMM. Included in this kind of therapy are a few procedures such as resistance or pressure, massage and stretching exercises.
But, the crux of this kind of treatment is based on having proper analysis and assessment to identify the entire body’s working. As a result, an osteopathic doctor can easily diagnose a variety of conditions, along with finding the root cause of joint pain, back pain, sciatica and involvement of other muscles and nerves.
Diseases that can be covered under osteopathy
Various types of bone and joint disorders and muscular problems can be solved by osteopathy practitioners. You can visit these osteopathic practitioners and their clinics for
- Traumatic bone and muscle injuries
- Degenerative diseases of the joints like arthritis, osteoarthritis
- Nerve impingement and referred pain as in sciatica, neuralgia
- Pain of specific parts of the bones
- Tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow
- A headache due to variety of reasons
- Painful conditions due to postural defects
- Sports related and work related sprain and injury
- Ligament injuries
There are various manifestations and symptoms of these types of diseases, which will take you to the osteopath. These osteopathy doctors will first analyze your condition and then plan out the procedures for relieving the underlying conditions and giving you overall wellness.
Physical examination and assessment
On visiting the clinics of osteopathic practitioners, you will be provided with ample time and sometimes suitable counseling to make you understand the entire process. The doctor will examine different areas of the body, specifically related to body pain and the part which is most affected. Stretching maneuvers are mostly asked to be demonstrated.
This kind of examination may take many minutes up to an hour or so. It is only after complete satisfaction of the diagnosis that the osteopath will discuss the issue with you. You may be asked to come at another appointed hour to understand the problem and the best methodology charted for you. In such discussions, details are provided about the number of sessions and the procedures to be adopted.
Since the target of the osteopath is to provide holistic treatment, such an expert will also ask you to make changes in the diet and lifestyle, along with prescribing certain exercises for you to carry out at home. In the clinics, the necessary manipulative movements would be done along with few other procedures.
Procedures involved in the treatment by the osteopath
Since the osteopath prescribes manipulative treatment, it may involve different types of steps using the hands. With their hands, these practitioners adopt the procedures of counterstrain, myofascial therapy, high-velocity low amplitude thrusts, massage, soft tissue mobilization and few other bone and joint specific techniques.
Hands are mostly used to diagnose problems, help with relief of pain and restore the motion across joints along with restoring the balance in the muscles. It is believed that pressure at different points of the body can help in the proper flow of blood and hormones, which is the aim of such procedures.
How to choose the best in osteopathic practitioners
It has been the constant effort of Farnham osteopath to spread the word about the procedures and the safety of such treatment modalities at the hands of an experienced and certified doctor. If you are in the United States and have back pain or joint pain, you can find out more about the neighborhood osteopath from online resources or from asking people in the region.
Checking out the feedback from people who have visited the osteopath’s clinic is a good way to know more about these doctors. Also, the experience and certification can be good indicators.
Author Bio:
Richard Reed, is an osteopath is Farnham. He is a founder and owner of Back to Active Osteopathy and Sports Injury Clinic. Richard has years of experience as a sports massage therapist and is currently the Assistant Head Coach for Farnham Swimming Club.