Osteopath London

Osteopathy is an approach to healthcare that emphasizes the role of the musculoskeletal system in health and disease. It is practised in the United Kingdom, the rest of the European Union, Israel, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Osteopathy and osteopathic medicine are often used inter-changeably, some would use osteopathic medicine to describe 'American osteopathy' and use osteopathy to describe the restricted scope form of practice in other jurisdictions, osteopathic medicine in the United States. Osteopathy or osteopathic medicine, has at the international level an organisation, The World Osteopathic Health Organisation (WOHO)[2] that permits membership by both 'restricted scope manual therapist' osteopaths and American osteopathic physicians. Similarly, there is also an international organisation for statutory regulators, universities / medicals schools offering osteopathic education and professional osteopathic associations the Osteopathic International Alliance (OIA)]. It is contestable that osteopathy / osteopathic medicine are two completely distinct professions, the regulatory framework determines scope of practice in a particular jurisdiction and that is subject to change.
In most countries, osteopathy has been considered a form of complementary medicine, emphasizing a holistic approach and the skilled use of a range of manual and physical treatment interventions in the prevention and treatment of disease. In practice, this most commonly relates to musculoskeletal problems such as back and neck pain. Osteopathic principles teach that treatment of the musculoskeletal system (bones, muscles and joints) facilitates the recuperative powers of the body - Contact London Osteopathic for more information on how osteopathy care could help you out of pain.

London Osteopathic Principles

These are the eight major principles of osteopathy and are widely taught throughout the international osteopathic community.
The body is a unit.
Structure and function are reciprocally inter-related.
The body possesses self-regulatory mechanisms.
The body has the inherent capacity to defend and repair itself.
When the normal adaptability is disrupted, or when environmental changes overcome the body’s capacity for self maintenance, disease may ensue.
The movement of body fluids is essential to the maintenance of health.
The nerves play a crucial part in controlling the fluids of the body.
There are somatic components to disease that are not only manifestations of disease, but also are factors that contribute to maintenance of the disease state.
These principles are not held by osteopathic physicians to be empirical laws; they are thought to be the underpinnings of the osteopathic philosophy on health and disease.

London Osteopathic Treatment Techniques

The goal of OMM is the resolution of what many osteopaths call somatic dysfunction in an attempt to aid the body's own recuperative faculties. Osteopathic manual treatment of the musculoskeletal system employs a diverse array of techniques. These are normally employed together with dietary, postural, and occupational advice, as well as counseling in an attempt to help patients recover from illness and injury, in an attempt to minimise or manage pain and disease.

Scope of manual therapies
Osteopathy employs manual therapies for the treatment of many neuromusculoskeletal pain syndromes, such as lower back pain and tension headache, alongside exercise and other rehabilitative techniques. Many osteopaths also attempt to manage (or, more often, co-manage) organic or Type-O disorders conditions, such as asthma and middle ear infections in children, menstrual pain, and pulmonary infection.

Cranial Osteopath London

Cranial osteopathy is a set of theory and techniques that have been developed from the observations of Dr William Sutherland that the plates of the cranium permit microscopic movement or force dissipation and that there is a 'force' or rhythm that is operating in moving the plates of the skull. Cranial osteopathy is said to be based on a primary respiratory mechanism, a rhythm that can be felt with a very finely developed sense of touch. Some osteopaths believe that improving dysfunctional cranial rhythmic impulses enhances cerebral spinal fluid flow to peripheral nerves, thereby enhancing metabolic outflow and nutrition inflow. It has gained particular popularity in the treatment of babies and children.
The primary respiratory mechanism is not acknowledged as existing in standard medical texts, and at least one study has failed to show inter-rater reliability between craniosacral therapists attempting to detect this rhythm.[10] While other studies have reported evidence of the existence of such a rhythm, the link between any such mechanism and states of health or disease has also been contested. One meta-analysis from the British Columbia Office of Health Technology Assessment (BCOHTA) concluded that "there is evidence for a craniosacral rhythm, impulse or 'primary respiration' independent of other measurable body rhythms", however it was noted that "these and other studies do not provide any valid evidence that such a craniosacral 'rhythm' or 'pulse' can be reliably perceived by an examiner" and that "The influence of this craniosacral rhythm on health or disease states is completely unknown."
Craniosacral therapy is based on the same principles as cranial osteopathy, but the practitioners are not qualified osteopaths. The theory and techniques of cranial osteopathy have also had a major influence in alternative medicine in general

 

Osteopathy in the U.K

The first osteopathic college was established in the UK in 1917 by John Martin Littlejohn, a Scot who had studied under Andrew Taylor Still. Littlejohn altered the osteopathic curriculum to include the study of physiology. The UK school he founded, the British School of Osteopathy, was the first osteopathic education institution outside the USA, and it still exists today, now located in Borough High Street, Southwark. British osteopaths use manipulative techniques based on the philosophy of Andrew Taylor Still, but do not receive medical or surgical training and are not physicians. Some medical doctors do undertake osteopathic training as a postgraduate interest. The profession is subject to statutory regulation following the passing of the Osteopaths Act in 1993. The General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) was established by the act to regulate the profession. Most medical services in the UK are delivered through the state funded National Health Service, osteopathy is largely excluded from this with most osteopaths working in private practice. Several large studies in the UK have produced evidence that demonstrates positive clinical and cost effectiveness of manipulation in the management of lower back pain, the latest being the UK Back pain Exercise And Manipulation (UK BEAM) trial. The physical manipulation condition of the UK BEAM trial involved "... a package of techniques representative of those used by the UK chiropractic, osteopathic, and physiotherapy professions."
Some UK osteopaths are also naturopaths, with one osteopathic college offering a dual training in osteopathy & naturopathy (the British College of Osteopathic Medicine) and another offering a post-graduate programme (the College of Osteopaths).
In 2005 the General Medical Council of Great Britain announced that U.S.-trained DOs would be accepted for full medical practice rights in the United Kingdom. This decision was an important departure from the United Kingdom's long-standing tradition of exclusively manual, or "traditional" osteopathy.
In the United Kingdom, courses in Osteopathy have recently become integrated into the university system. Instead of receiving a Diploma in Osteopathy (DO), with or without a Diploma in Naturopathy (ND), graduates now become Masters of Osteopathy, or Bachelors of Osteopathy, or Bachelors of Science in Osteopathy, according to the institution attended: but these degrees do not lead to prescribing rights and in this case Osteopathy and Osteopathic Medicine are synonymous. There is one "cross-over" institution, the London College of Osteopathic Medicine], which teaches osteopathy only to those already qualified in medicine. Before using the title of "osteopath," graduates have to register with the UK regulatory body by statute; the General Osteopathic Council.