The type of complaints an adult might see an osteopath for include aches or pain anywhere in your body, for example low back pain or headaches. The most common complaints that walk through our door include lower back pain, upper back pain, neck pain and headaches, but we also treat problems in the legs and arms such as knee pain or elbow pain, and even sporting injuries.
Our osteopaths work with your body to decrease strain in any painful areas and also to provide better balance throughout your body.
If you are suffering from something not listed here, our conditions page may have more information for you, or you can contact us for more information.
Lower Back Pain is Very Common and Can be Relieved With Osteopathic Treatment
It’s difficult to measure, but it’s estimated that 60-70% of people will experience lower back pain at some point in their lives. The World Health Organisation reports it as one of the top ten injury and disease conditions, causing a significant amount of days of missed work.
There are many different muscles and joints in the lower back that can be the cause of pain. Symptoms like sciatica, groin and hip pain are also commonly associated with back pain. During treatment your osteopath will use a thorough case history and examination to diagnose what is causing your pain and work to relieve excessive tension, and balance your body so that there is less strain placed on the effected joint or muscle.
If you’d like to find out more, click through to our Lower Back Pain page
Shoulder and Upper Back Pain Can Be Caused by Postural Strain
Postural strain is one of the most common reasons patients experience shoulder and upper back pain. Slumping in your chair occurs frequently if you have a sedentary job and it places a large amounts of strain on the upper back and shoulder joints. When you slump it changes how gravity works on the joints and muscles of the upper back and shoulder girdle and this causes a great deal of tension that leads to pain.
There are also many muscle groups that attach from the pelvis all the way to the upper back and shoulder. To work holistically to relieve your pain, your osteopath will want to examine your pelvis and lower back to relieve any tension that may be causing strain further up.
You can find a more detailed explanation on our Upper Back Pain and Shoulder Pain pages.
Headaches Are Often Caused By Strain In Your Neck
Another frequent complaint for our patients is headaches. Statistics show that around half of all adults will experience headaches at some point in their lives. There are several types of headaches. Tension type headaches and migraines are the most common presentations.
Osteopathic treatment for tension type headaches works at improving the motion of the neck and decreasing tension in the upper neck muscles. This reduces any trigger points or referred pain from the nerves which run through the suboccipital muscles (the ones at the base of your head). This often also involves working with the pelvis and spine to improve biomechanics of the neck.
If you’d like to understand more about how osteopaths treat headaches, click through to our Headaches and Migraines page.