Osteopathy is a regulated, drug free, non-invasive form of manual therapy.
The application of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) on pregnant women may help to improve somatic dysfunctions and the quality of life, by improving physiological function (Lavelle., 2012)
What makes us different?
- Time– Osteopaths have the luxury of spending more time with their patients, allowing the patients to feel more listened to. Osteopaths also build up a one to one rapport with the patient, and can listen to the patients concerns more due to the increased time.
- Hands on treatment- Osteopathy mainly focuses on ‘hands on’ treatment, to improve joint range of motion, decrease muscle tension and improving function. Using manual therapy osteopaths are trained to work with systems such as the Neuroendocrine and Respiratory-circulatory to improve a patients dysfunction.
- Accessibility– Due to the increased pressures on the NHS, waiting times are increasing, meaning pregnant women with carpal tunnel syndrome may have a prolonged waiting time whilst experiencing the symptoms. Most patients, dependent on location of course, can get an appointment with their local osteopath within a week, easing the pressure on the NHS.
- Touch– Osteopaths have a lot of time with patients and spend more time in general than physios do with their hands on their patients body, working on various structures. There are many benefits of touch, especially in helping patients in pain to reduce their pain levels, help people relax and also may help them heal faster.
- Addressing more than just the physical- Pain, especially if its long term with other stressors, can be very impactful on psychological and social wellbeing of the individual experiencing it. Although as osteopaths we are not trained to deal with these states general OMT may influence these states indirectly.
- Saracutu, et al. (2017) conducted a systematic review on the effect of Osteopathic treatment on patients with persistent pain.
- They found that OMT had a significant effect on anxiety and fear avoidance. 4/4 for anxiety and 2/3 for fear avoidance
Similarly they also found a significant reduction of depressive symptoms and improvements to overall quality of life.
