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Pure Health Osteopath Clinic

Osteopaths Weston Super Mare

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Osteopathy for Sports Injuries

March 8, 2015 by PureHealth

sports injuryWhat is Osteopathy:

Osteopathy is a form of manual therapy that can have beneficial effects for a variety of muscle and joint conditions. Osteopathic treatment involves the use a wide range of gentle hands on techniques. Treatment varies between patients depending on your age, fitness and diagnosis, but often focuses on releasing tension, stretching muscles and mobilising joints.

 

Benefits of Osteopathy:

  • Pain reduction.
  • Improved motion of the joints
  • Decreased stiffness
  • Improved Posture
  • Prevention of complications

 Effective in following sports related conditions:

  • Neck pain
  • Back pain
  • Joint related problems
  • Ligament injuries
  • Stress related injuries
  • Injury prevention strategies
  • Speedy recovery from injury

How massage is helpful in these conditions:

  • Reduce muscle tension
  • Decrease swelling and pain
  • Improve circulation to the affected part

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How Osteopaths Treat Athletes:

Treatment of injuries primarily focuses on recovery, rehabilitation, and prevention of reoccurrence. Performance enhancement focusses on personal evaluation and goal setting. This includes assessing; fitness, joint mobility, strength, muscular function, nerve function and posture.

Types of sports injuries:

Sports injuries can be categorized in to two groups.

  • Acute traumatic injuries:

It includes fractures, sprains, strains, concussion, cuts, and head injuries. For example a blow to the knee when tackling, or a direct hit by a bat etc.

 

  • Overuse injuries:

Stress fractures, tendonitis, runner’s knee and tennis elbow are characterized as overuse injuries. They happen due to continuous exercises such as running and serving a ball in tennis.

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Osteopathic  techniques:

  • Mobilization of joint
  • Stretching exercises
  • Soft tissue techniques
  • Massage
  • Joint manipulation techniques
  • Acupuncture and dry needling

 

Joint Mobilization:

This technique is used to improve range of motion in a joint and help restore pain free joint movement. This can benefit by restoring motion to an area restricted due to injury or overuse. This can have positive effects by improving musculo-skeletal function and improving fluid flow in and out of the specific joint (almost like lubricating a stiff joint).

 

Muscle stretching:

Vigorous exercises are associated with tightening of muscles. The stretching exercises help to lengthen and relax tight muscles. This can help; improve flexibility, increase joint range of motion and relieve pain caused by tight muscles.

 

Massage Techniques

Soft tissue massage is often used to improve circulation and reduce pain to an area. It is also effective in easing tight muscles that may be responsible for restriction or pain.

 

Joint Manipulation Techniques

Joint manipulation techniques are advanced, powerful mobilisation techniques for specifically mobilising restricted joints. Manipulation is often associated with an audible clicking noise as the joint releases. Effects include; improved range of motion and decreased pain. Manipulation techniques can also have an effect of neurological feedback mechanisms, causing local muscle relaxation and pain inhibition.

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Strapping and Taping

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Strapping and taping techniques are used to restrict or immobilise a joint. Sometimes following an acute injury rest and immobilisation can benefit the area by preventing re-irritation and allowing the bodies healing process to take place.

Taping can be a great way to restrict or immobilise an area whilst allowing you to still carry take part in sport.

 

Acupuncture

The main therapeutic effects of acupuncture are achieved through stimulation of the nervous system, these effects have been shown to; improve nutrient flow to an area, stimulate the release of your body’s own pain killers (endophines), inhibit the activation of neurological pain pathways. This overall, helps to decrease pain experienced and helps create an environment for your body to heal.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized

Whole Body Wellness

February 24, 2015 by PureHealth

10468750_mPeople often seem surprised by our answers when asked; “Is Osteopathy for Backs?” or “Can Osteopaths treat…….leg pain? or shoulders? or necks?”.

Osteopaths have a very good reputation for treating back pain or restriction, after all  back pain is the most common type of musculoskeletal pain and as a result we treat it often.

So… Is Osteopathy Just For Backs?

Well… the spine is a very important structure, it helps hold us up for a start. It also protects the spinal cord. The nerves exiting the spine go on to control muscles of the leg, arms, chest, back and neck. So to ignore the spine or back when examining a musculoskeletal problem would be like examining a muscle or joint without considering its nerve supply. You could relate this to trying to find out why your kettle is not working without first checking if it’s plugged in or the electrics our on. The spine is very important to each bone, joint and muscle in the body, and so it is important to consider it with almost every problem we see. Even a problem unlikely to directly effect the back could have an indirect effect on it, for example a fractured wrist. The injury in this case is likely to be local to the wrist, but the secondary effects of the wrist being in a cast, and having to rely heavily on the other arm could place load through the back to compensate.

So What Else Can Osteopaths Treat?

Osteopaths work to facilitate the bodies own ability to heal, working with the bodies structure and function to provide your body with the optimal healing environment. A whole body system for wellness. With this principle in mind we could potentially treat many conditions. However, the efficacy of this may be questionable, and its important to know our limitations in practice. We do this by reviewing scientific research relevant to our practice and base our treatments on best research and practice. This is referred to as evidence based or evidence informed medicine, and is relevant to all fields of medicine.

Ultimately this means that we can provide therapy for many conditions but can not offer or imply that we can cure the problem without a strong evidence base (backed up by research).

The Committees of Advertising Practice have accepted that there is supporting evidence that Osteopaths can provide effective treatment for:

  • generalised aches and pains,
  • joint pains including hip and knee pain from osteoarthritis as an adjunct to core osteoarthritis treatments and exercise
  •  arthritic pain,
  • general, acute & chronic backache, back pain (not arising from injury or accident)
  • uncomplicated mechanical neck pain (as opposed to neck pain following injury i.e. whiplash)
  • headache arising from the neck (cervicogenic) / migraine prevention
  • frozen shoulder/ shoulder and elbow pain/ tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) arising from associated musculoskeletal conditions of the back and neck, but not isolated occurrences
  • circulatory problems,
  • cramp,
  • digestion problems,
  • joint pains, lumbago,
  • sciatica,
  • muscle spasms,
  • neuralgia,
  • fibromyalgia,
  • inability to relax,
  • rheumatic pain,
  • minor sports injuries and tensions.

Filed Under: Slides, Uncategorized

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