Imagine walking into a clinic that sees your body as connected, where every treatment enhances your natural healing.

Osteopathy is an important part of our healthcare. Though less known than regular medicine, it offers a unique approach many people want. Started in the 1800s, it mixes medical knowledge with an understanding of how the body works. It looks at how the body’s structure and function work together.

Osteopathic clinics offer different services to help restore balance and improve health. This article explores these services and how they help you stay well.

The Role of Osteopathic Physicians in Healthcare

Osteopaths offer a unique view of healthcare. They focus on a holistic rather than a partial approach.

Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) practitioners use hands-on techniques to recondition the body. 

While many therapists use manipulative techniques (often after a short training course), Osteopaths are comprehensively trained over four years to apply them safely at the right time in consideration of the individual patient, including their overall health and wellbeing.  This holistic approach aims to find the root causes of health problems and provides complete care, 

Osteopaths are skilled at treating the body’s muscles and bones. They are fully regulated by statute to handle many health conditions. They offer broad care in many areas, from family medicine to urgent care.

Their practical methods help the body heal itself, encouraging a shift towards maintaining health rather than just battling illness.

Services Provided by Osteopathic Clinics

Osteopathic clinics provide gentle, hands-on treatments that emphasise the body’s natural healing abilities. These treatments address not only pain but also overall health.

These clinics offer different services to improve health and help recovery. Read the following sections to learn more about what an osteopathic clinic provides.

Core Services Offered

Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT)

OMT is a large part of Osteopathic treatment. It provides hands-on healing by skilled osteopaths. This treatment uses gentle pressure, stretching, and resistance techniques to fix structural imbalances, helping reduce pain and improve general wellness.

OMT improves circulation and supports the body’s self-healing. It treats pain from muscles, tendons, or joints. 

Osteopaths use OMT techniques to improve movement and help recovery from musculoskeletal system injuries. This holistic care approach aims for the best health through natural, therapeutic movements.

Visceral Osteopathy

Visceral osteopathy is a holistic branch of osteopathic health care focusing on returning balance to the mobility and motility of the body’s internal organs to enhance the body’s innate ability to heal.

Osteopathic physicians use functional and structural diagnosis. They go beyond surface symptoms and treat the body’s integral structures.

Cranial Osteopathy

This treatment is based on the concept that the brain and spinal cord have a natural rhythm that can be improved to boost health. Fixing imbalances and restrictions in this rhythm can help with many conditions.

Trained osteopaths use a holistic approach, assessing and treating the whole person. Including their physical, mental, and emotional health. Cranial osteopathy focuses on:

• Restoring natural rhythms
• Alleviating pain.
• Enhancing body function
• Promoting holistic well-being

Osteopathic clinics offer this gentle treatment as part of complete care. A treatment customised to each person’s needs and works with the body’s natural health.

Specialised Services

Sports and Remedial Massage

Sports and remedial massage is a therapy designed for athletes and active individuals. It focuses on areas overused, injured and stressed by repetitive movements.

Benefits:

• Enhanced Performance
• Faster Recovery
• Reduced Muscle Tension
• Increased Range of Motion
• Mental Clarity

Western Medical Acupuncture

Acupuncture, rooted in traditional Chinese medicine, complements modern osteopathic care to enhance patient outcomes. It’s used for muscle and joint pain and acute inflamed areas to reduce pain and increase range of movement.

Osteopathic clinics integrate acupuncture for:

• Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT)
• Muscle Spasms
• Pain management
• Sports injury treatment
• Holistic care approaches

Acupuncture can play a key role within osteopathic clinics, promoting healing and overall health.

Kinesio Taping

Kinesiotaping can help osteopathic care by regulating the flow of lymph and circulation, reducing inflammation and pain, and restoring normal, pain-free joint and muscle function.

Kinesio Taping supports osteopathy’s goal of promoting optimal health through natural healing.

Clinical Pilates

Clinical Pilates helps by improving core stability, balance, posture, strength, and flexibility, speeding up recovery, and reduces the likelihood of re-injury.

It can be taught on a couch or a floor mat, and also, with specialised equipment like the Reformer and Trapeze Table, it provides a personalised, low-impact workout ideal for recovery and performance enhancement.

Myofascial Release

Myofascial release uses sustained gentle to moderate pressure either directly or indirectly on the fascia of the body. This has an effect on the muscles and joints, helping to fix structural imbalances and promote self-healing.

Ultrasound Therapy

Although not a core osteopathic therapy, ultrasound therapy complements osteopathic care by using sound waves to deliver deep heat to tissues, promoting healing and pain relief. It is especially effective for soft tissue injuries and is valued for its non-invasive nature in physical therapy.

Benefits of Ultrasound Therapy:

• Pain reduction
• Healing acceleration
• Tissue relaxation

Perrin Technique

The Perrin Technique is a unique osteopathic method developed by Dr. Raymond Perrin. It is used to assess and treat chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

It operates on the idea that stress can cause toxin buildup in the brain and spinal cord fluid. This technique involves a thorough manual assessment to identify signs of CFS/ME, such as:

• Spinal abnormalities
• Swollen lymph nodes
• Fluid congestion

Conclusion

Osteopathic clinics offer a unique and holistic approach to healthcare, focusing on the body’s natural ability to heal. With techniques ranging from OMT to special therapies like the Perrin Technique, these clinics offer complete care for many conditions.

Patients benefit from a team-based, patient-focused environment. They receive the latest treatments based on Osteopathic Medicine principles.

Our Osteopathy clinic has delivered long-lasting results to residents, professionals, and athletes. To experience this holistic care firsthand, visit our Osteopaths in Croydon. Experience the difference and step toward a healthier, more balanced life.