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Working with nature's healing process

Osteopathy is a type of alternative medicine that emphasises massage and other physical manipulation of muscle tissue and bones.

SMH, a lawyer, was experiencing acute pain in his neck. He felt sharp intermittent "toothache" like symptoms in his arm, and loss of strength in his arm.
He was unable to move his head to look to the side, and as a result was unable to drive. This is when he consulted Malcolm Gregory, senior osteopath and physical therapist, who found out that other than being in acute pain, SMH was extremely stressed as he was told that he would need emergency surgery.
As a lawyer he had a busy professional life. The stress at the prospect of surgery, and the constant pain were both debilitating. His symptoms seemed to be worse at night affecting his sleep.
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His scans revealed a profuse disc bulge that was causing pressure on the nerve. Over a three week period he received gentle osteopathic treatment to release the tension in his muscles, and to restore the spaces between the vertebrae of his neck.
Osteopathy is a type of alternative medicine that emphasises massage and other physical manipulation of muscle tissue and bones. Musculoskeletal disorders are one of the main areas of intervention in osteopathy.
After the second treatment he reported that the pain in his arm had almost disappeared. SMH was able to find a comfortable position to sleep. The combination of treatment and the easing of his symptoms led him to participate in gentle exercises that helped him regain his range of movement. He was able to go back to work after a week.
Six weeks later, SMH was symptom free.
Osteopaths do not prescribe medicine, but in certain cases of extreme discomfort will recommend a patient see their doctor for pain relief.
Dr Jorge Esteves, Osteopath, Osteopathic Health Centre said: "Osteopaths work under the principle that there may be a number of contributing factors to the symptoms and will therefore evaluate not only the area which is producing the symptoms, but also associated areas that may be contributing to the issue. These could include past trauma, environmental factors and the family's health history."
Dr Esteves explained that osteopathic practice is a healthcare approach that provides a package of care that can include one or more of the following: manual therapy, health information, self-management advice and support, and/or exercise therapy, as determined by the individual needs of the patient.
Osteopathy is a way to work with nature's own healing process. In some cases a patient can avoid surgery with appropriate and timely osteopathic treatments.
Dr Esteves said: "A hallmark of osteopathy is a 'whole-person' approach. The basic tenets of osteopathy afford a perspective on health that invites the osteopath and patient to identify and address issues well beyond the constraints associated with finding and fixing 'issues in the tissues'."

How is osteopathy different from physiotherapy?
Physiotherapists tend to work as allied health professionals and their approach to patient care tends to be based on the clinical management of a given clinical conditions.
For example, if a patient has a particular knee injury, it is likely that the physiotherapy treatment will be focused around the knee joint as well as giving you some knee exercises to carry out at home. Physiotherapy treatment is also likely to include electrotherapy, ultrasound or shortwave therapy. In contrast, the osteopathy would consider the whole individual (and not the knee problem in isolation), so they would want to include treatments that would improve the function of whole body to reduce the strain on the knee joint.
Tips for training

• Drink 16-20 fluid ounces of water (approximately half a litre) at least four hours before exercise.
  
• Drink 8-12 fluid ounces of water (approximately 1 cup) 10-15 minutes before exercise.
  
• During training, drink 3-8 fluid ounces of water (approximately half a cup to a cup) every 15-20 minutes when exercising for less than 60 minutes.
  
• Drink 3-8 fluid ounces of sports beverage (approximately half a cup to a cup) every 15-20 minutes when exercising for greater than 60 minutes.
  
• After training, drink 20-24 fluid ounces of water (approximately half to three-fourths of a liter) after exercise and training.
  

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