What does Osteopathic treatment involve?
Osteopathic treatment focuses on the ‘whole body’ by increasing joint mobility, relieving muscle tension and enhancing the blood and nerve supply to tissues. The concept is that the techniques used help the body’s healing mechanisms restore the full function of the body. These techniques can include: soft tissue massage, joint manipulation, stretching, acupuncture and more. Osteopaths will also advise you on health and exercises to promote correct posture. This holistic approach aims to help your body find a balance with each treatment specifically tailored to a patient’s needs.
The purpose of osteopathy is to treat patients of all ages, from babies to seniors, and treatment gets tailored to athletes, pregnant women and much more.
What is the difference between Osteopathy and Physiotherapy?
Now that we better understand the area of Osteopathy, we look at how it compares to Physiotherapy. There are more similarities than differences between the two professions, with both focused on musculoskeletal pain and hands-on treatments. Also, osteopaths and physiotherapists involve themselves in extensive training in anatomy, physiology and pathology.
Philosophy Behind the Professions
Osteopaths work from the viewpoint that the ‘body is a whole’ and that all the body’s systems are interconnected, and it has a self-healing mechanism. Conversely, physiotherapy is aligned more closely with traditional Western medicine, where the focus is more on the problem area identified with treatment specified to that area instead of the whole body.