Frome Valley Osteopaths

OK so of course I’m biased, I spent 4 years at university studying and have been enmeshed in Osteopathy for the better part of my adult life, the last 13 years. Osteopathy is pretty incredible, and I have seen it help support positive changes in the lives of MANY patients. But how can it help you?..

Do you ever think you know something, then go and speak to an expert and realise how much you don’t know… this happens to me all the time, speaking to nutritionists, Pilates instructors, Doctors and different kinds of Physios. This isn’t to say I don’t know my stuff, it’s to say that we often don’t know how much we don’t know until we are with someone who really does understand it deeper than us. This is why GP surgeries and hospitals are supported by Physios, nurses etc, it would take a lifetime to understand it and do it all well.

So, do you know how much you don’t know about your back pain or neck pain or joint pain? You absolutely know what it feels like and how it’s impacting your life, this is hugely important. You might know some exercises, you might even know what the underlying diagnosis is. All of these facts are important and helpful and part of the picture. Particularly if the exercises are helping and the diagnosis means that you have the right support around you, a diagnosis may have calmed down any worry that it’s something potentially horrific.

But what then? Do you know how your knee pain is interacting with your foot, hip and low back (and vice versa), do you know what’s maintaining what and where treatment could be directed to help stop the cycle?

Knowledge is hugely important, to have all the understanding of anatomy, physiology and pathology etc as Osteopaths is all essential, to be able to diagnose, to know how to manage a treatment plan and to know when to refer on. This we learn at university and develop over time in the intervening years. For me however, this is not where the magic happens…

The magic is in the listening, the listening with your ears to patients, to know why the symptoms you have come to see us about are a problem and how. Also, most important (to me) the listening with your hands. When I sit down with a patient, I have already understood all the information, I have an idea of what I will find and what might need to change but I also understand that the patients body knows about its own health, it knows what it needs better than my ‘intelligence’ and if I listen to their body and let my ego go, it will show me.

Gentle approaches to the body are our specialism at Frome valley Osteopaths, it is by no means the only approach we take, but it is where most of our further training is directed and an area in which we have a lot of experience. Osteopathy is broad ranging, from manipulation (structural osteopathy) at one end of the spectrum, to gentle approaches such as biodynamic or cranial at the other. There are many wonderful Osteopaths who can integrate all of this into their practice. Personally the more gentle approaches are for best for my anatomy, my own hyper-mobile hands! and the approach I know works for me and my patients.

As specialists in the more gentle approaches to the body, we can be wonderful for all sorts of things, including, and probably most well known, treating parents during pregnancy, and babies and children (see the blog about this for more information). There is less awareness around how well we can support older people, where manipulation or being moved around a lot can be too much, and where support of health becomes more obviously important.

This is not to say that we can’t support people through all sorts of things, back pain, neck pain and sciatica are our bread and butter, we are great at helping people experience significant changes in their pain levels and mobility. I have worked with ultra runners, cyclists, power lifters and also people where a chronic disease or trauma is their primary concern, to feel more balanced, in many ways, and in less pain.

The positive impact of a regulated nervous system after a gentle treatment cannot be understated… as well as the huge benefits of subtle fine tuned listening.

So, If you think maybe we could help you, or even if you have no idea but you’d like to find out, give us, or your local friendly Osteopath a call. Most of us love our jobs, and supporting people to experience safety, comfort and vitality in their own body is one of the greatest joys in my life. Siân, Becca and I are here to help, and very much look forward to working with you.

Lauren Manning BSc Hons Ost.