When to consult your osteopath?

Osteopathy has long been considered in the collective imagination as a therapy exclusively focused on the treatment of osteoarticular pain and with a field of application restricted to problems related to the skeleton and joints. This is a rather simplistic view, but ultimately understandable if we look at the etymology of the word "osteopathy", derived from the Greek osteon (bone) and pathos (suffering). This term was chosen by Andrew Taylor Still, considered as the founding father of osteopathy, who considered that the whole of the functions of the body could be carried out correctly only if the principal structure of the body (the skeleton thus) was perfectly free. In practice, starting from this structural approach, the goal of your osteopath is to understand how certain pains or functional disorders have settled and by which physiological processes the situation has ended up leading to pains or disorders which can sometimes be symptoms quite distant a priori from articular problems. We will therefore try to draw up a list of reasons that may lead you to consult your osteopath.

Even if they are not the only ones that can be treated by osteopathy, bone and joint pain remains one of the most frequent reasons for consultation at the practice, particularly when it occurs in the spine. Most often, this pain is related to a decrease in the mobility of one or more vertebral levels. This loss of mobility leads to a reflex muscular contraction which itself quickly becomes annoying and painful and can explain why the pain tends to spread gradually around the area of origin. These pains can be located in the lumbar region (the lower back), the thoracic region (between the shoulder blades) or the cervical region (the neck). We speak of acute pain when it is a recent and isolated symptom or chronic pain when it is already known, constant or not. In this context, after identifying the vertebral level(s) whose mobility is altered, your osteopath will know how to choose the appropriate techniques to regain normal mobility and thus get rid of this pain.

In the same way as for the vertebral joints, it happens that the mobility of the joints of the upper limbs (shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand) or lower limbs (hip, knee, ankle, foot) is not ideal and causes pain either at the level of the disturbed joints, or at a distance from them. Once again, your osteopath will be able to identify these disturbances and choose the appropriate gestures to restore normal mobility and get rid of the pain.

Whether it is at the level of the limbs or the spine, there are several ways in which these losses of mobility can occur. It may be due to an important and punctual constraint such as a fall or an accident, or a constraining position maintained for too long (while working under the sink for example). In these cases, the origin of the problem is generally quite clear and easy to identify and therefore to treat for your osteopath.

It also frequently happens that it is rather the accumulation of small constraints that ends up installing "tensions", it is the case in repeated movements (which often lead to tendonitis in the long term) or during the accumulation of "mini-constraints" like vibrations for example.

Sometimes it is older constraints or traumas that are at the origin of disturbances in the body's functions. For example, a big fall can lead to adaptations that are relatively well supported for several months or even several years, before another event that may be quite harmless a priori updates these adaptations by triggering pain that is often disproportionate to the immediate triggering factor. It can be a little more complicated for your osteopath to immediately identify the initial cause, but the history taken at the beginning of the consultation is also there to give some clues... it is then a real investigation that begins to try to understand what led to the installation of the pain!

At the digestive level, there are mainly two axes on which osteopathy can have an effective action. First of all, it is important to keep in mind that all the systems that regulate digestion come from the autonomic or vegetative nervous system, whose information and signals are conveyed by nerves coming from the spinal cord and leaving the vertebral canal between each vertebra. It is therefore easy to understand that a structural problem at the level of a vertebral level can have an influence on the digestive function, whether it is pain or disturbance of the transit (diarrhea, constipation...). The second axis through which your osteopath can have an action on the digestive system is what we call the "visceral joints". In the abdominal cavity, all the organs "cohabit" by occupying as much space as possible and therefore by leaning on each other. These areas of support between organs form sliding areas that are called visceral joints. Just like the classical joints we mentioned above, a disturbance in the mobility of the visceral joints can also lead to functional digestive disorders. Your osteopath then has specific techniques on the visceral organs, the aim of which is to restore the sliding capacity of the digestive organs in relation to each other and thus to resolve the disorders caused by this type of concern.

Headaches (which are more commonly known as headaches) are also among the reasons for consultation for which osteopathy can be effective. However, there are a multitude of possible causes for these pains, which makes it sometimes more complicated to identify the origin.

For example, it can be the consequence of cervical muscular tensions, more specifically at the level of the sub-occipital muscles (just below the base of the skull, at the back of the head) which can give headaches often lateralized on one side of the skull and sometimes wrongly assimilated to migraines. It also happens that these sub-occipital tensions hinder the venous drainage of the blood that circulates in the cranium, causing headaches that are more posterior (or occipital headaches) and predominate in the morning when waking up because of the lying position during which gravity cannot "help" the blood to leave the head. These two types of headaches generally respond particularly well to osteopathic manual treatment. This is also the case for catamenial headaches (headaches related to the menstrual cycle in women), in general it is the association of pre-existing mechanical constraints with the hormonal storm generated by the cycle that is responsible for these pains. If it is complicated to affirm that the osteopath can act directly on the hormonal level, the work on the mechanical constraints most often gives a convincing result.

There are of course many other forms of headache, some of which respond well to osteopathic treatment and others which are more effectively treated medically. In all these cases your osteopath is trained to identify the origin of the pain and will be able to tell you if there is anything he can do or if it would be better to consult your doctor.

As with headaches, the case of vertigo and tinnitus (the abnormal perception of humming or whistling in one or both ears) is complicated to address in this context. Both can be indicative of an underlying medical problem that is beyond the scope of your osteopath. If necessary, your osteopath will be able to direct you to the competent specialist (ENT or neurologist most often), do not hesitate to ask him/her. In most cases, however, vertigo and tinnitus are a consequence of tension and/or lack of mobility in the cervical-head region and osteopathy can therefore prove to be a valuable aid in alleviating or resolving the origin of the problem.

The mechanisms of response to stress, which can cause anxiety and lead to sleep disorders and/or important muscular tensions, are the consequences of the reactions of the vegetative nervous system (which manages all the automatic commands of the body: digestion, breathing, sleep...). Osteopathy includes techniques that can have an influence on the vegetative (or autonomic) nervous system and that allow to have an influence on the intensity of its responses. It is indeed quite common for people who are easily stressed or anxious to have a disproportionate response from the VNS to a source of stress, thus inducing disproportionate reactions compared to the initial source of stress. It is therefore possible to modulate the intensity of these responses in order to attenuate the consequences, whether they are muscular tensions, digestive symptoms or sleep disorders. However, this osteopathic work cannot be done without a parallel work on the identified sources of stress or the origin of these disproportionate VNS responses. This work can be done with your osteopath if the circumstances lend themselves to it or with another specialized practitioner.

An osteopathy consultation is a bit like a car check-up but for humans. The idea is to make a check-up of the person, to detect the zones of loss of mobility, of weakness. Your osteopath will treat them but above all will give you advice, exercises, tracks to help you maintain an optimal physical condition.

In the context of early childhood, your osteopath also has an important role to play. As soon as the birth is over, it is important to check that the child's first "traumatic" experience of life, the birth, has been well supported by the child. It is frequent that the birth has mechanical consequences that need to be taken care of. Most often the osteopath is brought to work on the loss of vertebral mobility which can, if not taken care of, lead to plagiocephaly (the baby's head flattens out because it is systematically turned in the same position during sleep). Osteopathy can also be effective in the management of digestive problems common in infants, such as reflux or colic. Later on in childhood it is important to check (especially during periods of important growth) that no important imbalance is established following a trauma or a fall in particular, in order to avoid that these slight imbalances at the origin have more important consequences in the long term, as mentioned at the beginning of the article. Similarly, after a therapeutic act that could potentially generate new constraints or imbalances (such as the fitting of orthodontic appliances in adolescence or a surgical operation), it is important to check that all the structures involved are as free and mobile as possible in order to prevent the therapeutic act in question from generating new pain or imbalances.

During pregnancy, the body changes and this can be a source of pain. Your osteopath, provided that he is trained in the care of pregnant women, can accompany the woman at any time during the pregnancy. Here are some recommendations applicable in the absence of contraindications (bleeding, bedridden pregnancy, etc):

In general, your osteopath is trained to identify what is and is not his or her responsibility.

In case of doubt, do not hesitate to ask him/her to know if an osteopathic consultation is indicated or if it would be more appropriate for you to consult a doctor. In case of doubt or if additional examinations (imaging, blood analysis...) are necessary before an osteopathic treatment, your osteopath will be able to indicate it to you and to refer you to the most appropriate person.