Osteopathy – Your Initial Consultation
An initial consultation lasts 45 mins and will involve taking a detailed case history. We will then examine and treat you, carefully explaining your diagnosis and prognosis so that you understand your problem. This will enable you to feel more in control of your situation, safe in the knowledge that the reason for your pain has an explanation and that your pain is being managed.
Visit our Fees page for full details on pricing for initial consultations and returning appointments based on your preferred treatment pathway.
1. Case history and background
During your consultation a complete case history is taken, detailing your past and present medical history. This includes information that may even seem unrelated. We need details on medication that you are taking long and/or short term, any previous operations that you have had performed, previous accidents and your general activity levels and overall health and vitality.
Issues that predispose you to your problem, such as your profession (for example if you sit at a computer), daily habits or recreational sports that you participate in, will be discussed and factored in so that we can build up a complete clinical picture.
2. Movement tests and treatment
We will then go on to examine you. This may also involve taking your blood pressure and undertaking a range of neurological, orthopaedic and diagnostic tests which help to form our diagnosis.
We will then assess your posture and undertake movement tests so that we can see how a joint or limb is functioning in relation to itself and the rest of the body.
Treatment itself, remembering that osteopathy is essentially a manual therapy, involves gentle repetitive movements and a range of stretching and soft tissue techniques.
These techniques should not cause you any undue discomfort. Obviously some people who present to us are in a great deal of pain and we take all reasonable precautions to make them as comfortable as possible and to be both as gentle and sympathetic as possible.
3. Prognosis and recommendations
It is important to remember that, if for example you present to us with an elbow problem, you may well find us examining your shoulder and even your spinal function too.
Remember: “osteopathy is a holistic therapy that integrates the whole body into a diagnosis.”
After treatment, we will give you recommendations for further treatment and rehabilitation. We can email exercise videos or provide printouts. We will also carefully point out things to avoid so you don’t exacerbate your problem.
If you would like to come and see us, feel free to call us on 01298 214994 and initiate a brief, informal consultation. Remember, you don’t have to ask your GP and you can come to see us whenever it suits you.