What To Expect From An Osteopathy Appointment

What To Expect From An Osteopathy Appointment

If you have never been to an Osteopath you may not know what to expect from an osteopathy appointment. Fear not, during a consultation whether its the first or your 5th there will be a continuous dialogue between your osteopath and yourself. This is to ensure that you consent to different treatments and know what’s going on throughout the treatment.

Step by step

Before any questions are asked about why you are in the clinic a GDPR form needs to be completed.

Case History

A case history will be taken by your osteopath and will take approximately 10-15mins. This will cover why you are there today, the history associated with this as well as any other medical or musculoskeletal conditions you have currently or in the past. Questions will also be asked about your lifestyle, this includes your job, hobbies and family set up. This is to gauge what you would be doing during your week, activities or habits may in influencing your pain. Questions can seem unrelated but osteopathy aims to treat the cause as well as the symptoms, to determine the cause more in-depth questions may be needed.

Bringing a list of your medications, reports of blood tests, MRI or X-rays is beneficial so your osteopath has a clear picture of your medical history.

Examination

Once the case history is completed examination can start. Depending on what you present with you may be asked to dress down. This is why wearing loose clothing is advised as it is easy to move around. If you are uncomfortable and do not want to expose any skin you do not have to remove clothing.

Examination consists of a standing examination. Your osteopath will be looking to see how you move in different areas and in different types of movement. They will also palpate areas to get feedback on pain levels and tissue tonicity. They may ask you to walk or do specific movements to see how your body acts.

After a standing examination you will be asked to lie on the plinth for the passive examination. This means the osteopath will be moving your joints and palpating tissues when you are relaxed.

If appropriate your osteopath may test your blood pressure levels, test strength, reflexes and sensory feedback.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Your osteopath will then explain their diagnosis to you and their recommended treatment plan. If you would like to ask any questions about either of do not hesitate. Understanding why you are experiencing your symptoms is really important part of the treatment process. It will help you contextualise what’s happening and why you may be asked to do stretches or exercises.

If you are happy to continue with treatment this is when it will happen. Throughout treatment your osteopath will explain what they are doing and what, if anything, they want you do to. Some techniques require muscle activation while others you can relax. Treatment does not need to be painful! It is not a ‘no pain no gain’ situation. Hypertonic muscles can be tender to work on but giving feedback to your osteopath will help get to a pressure that is comfortable for you.

Once treatment is done it is on an individual basis of what will happen after. If you require more treatment this will be communicated to you and the reasons why. We aim to give you an estimated number of treatments we think you will need. This can be difficult to judge and will depend on how you respond to treatments.

After Treatment

Some people may benefit to doing homework. This is rarely a huge amount and normally consists of stretching or some exercises. This will be tailored to you, if you hate running you will not be asked to run.

Payment can be made with cash or card, receipts will be emailed to you. We encourage you to check your healthcare plan as you may be entitled to money back from your appointments.

Hopefully this blog has given you a clearer picture of what to expect from your osteopathy appointment, but if you have any questions be do get in contact.