What Will A Consultation Involve?

A first consultation generally will last for about 45–60 minutes. Your osteopath needs to know about your health, past and present and you will be asked detailed questions about your complaint, medical
history, general health and any medication you may be taking.
Follow-up consultations are normally 30 minutes in duration, as over 80% of the time is spent on treatment.

The osteopath will carry out a careful physical examination sometimes incorporating medical equipment to help with the diagnosis.

Your osteopath will normally ask you to remove some of your clothing and perform a simple series of movements.

The osteopath will use touch to identify points of weakness, pain or excessive strain in your body. You will usually be treated lying on a treatment couch.

Osteopaths usually start any treatment by releasing and relaxing muscles and stretching stiff joints, using gentle massage techniques, rhythmic joint movements and muscle release techniques. They may also carry out spinal manipulations. These are short, quick movements to joints in order to help restore normal joint function and mobility.

The number of treatments needed depends on your condition. If you have chronic low back pain for example, you may need several treatments. For acute pain, one or two treatments may be enough.

Following treatment, patients can experience a number of responses from feeling pleasantly tired or elated to being a little stiff and sore for a couple of days but feeling better in themselves. Often, patients experience a significant reduction in symptoms within the first three treatments, & sometimes within only 48 hours post-treatment.