Osteopathy is a patient-centred manual therapy that may be helpful in treating patients with:

- Back Pain

- Shoulder, arm and neck pain

- Hip, knee and foot pain

- Headaches and jaw pain

- Whiplash

- Soft tissue injuries involving muscles, ligaments and tendons

- Sports injuries

- Post operative rehabilitation

- Back pain etc. in pregnancy

Osteopathy is also used to treat babies and children, primarrily using the gentle cranial osteopathic approach.

Osteopathy was founded in 1874 by Dr Andrew Taylor Still, who was a medical doctor during the American Civil War.  Frustrated by the lack of effective medical treatment and the drug therapy of his day, and seeing many members of his own family die as a result of disease, he resolved to find a method of treatment that would access the body's own healing processes.  He felt that the key to unlocking that healing was to ensure unrestricted blood flow, as the blood contained all of the essential oxygen and nutrients necessary for healing.  Hence, he developed a method of manual treatment that would allow tense tissue, muscle and bone, to relax and move in a natural manner, allowing improved blood flow and healing.

He also considered that it was important to address the structure and function of the patient as an individual, and in a holistic way to include all aspects of the physical, as well as mental and emotional stresses placed upon them.  Famously, more patients with influenza survived, in the USA  during the epidemic of 1918, after osteopathy treatment than did with the medical treatment of the day.

All osteopaths are medically trained in anatomy, physiology and pathology amongst other studies and, although not medical Doctors in the UK, as they would be in the USA, they are legally allowed to medically examine, diagnose and treat using manual methods, and to refer patients for further tests and investigations if appropriate.

Osteopaths are able to carry out medical examinations in the following if it is felt to be necessary:

Neurological System

Cardiovascular System

Respiratory System

Lymphatic System

Abdominal and visceral organs 

Scientific research is continually being carried out to establish an evidence basis for osteopathy.  However, it is difficult to isolate particular aspects of a treatment in order to test them, as each patient is treated as an individual and not all osteopathic treatments are the same for similar presentations, in much they same way that psychotherapy would be difficult to test, but, generally agreed to be beneficial in its effect.. The osteopath is seeking health in their patients, and not focusing on their illness.

What is cranial osteopathy?

The cranial approach in osteopathy was developed by William Garner Sutherland who was a pupil of Dr Still.  When a student, Sutherland noticed that the various bones of the skull had differing shapes and angles between them which suggested to him that they were meant to move one upon another as well as forming a strong protective cover.  This has now been accepted by Gray's Anatomy. He pondered why this should occur and realised that the central nervous system, the brain and the spinal cord, had an innate motion, possibly as a result of the continual production of cerebral spinal fluid and its reabsorbsion by the brain. The central nervous system seemed to move in a rhythmic wavelike manner. Sutherland carried out research on himself over many years, and discovered that various restrictions of motion of the cranial bones would produce varying effects in the body, and in mental function and mood.  Hence, he developed a way of releasing restrictions of movement through these bones and notably the sacrum, which is attached to the central nervous system at the base of the spinal column and forms part of the pelvic girdle, to allow for improved movement in the tissues throughout the body. This movement could also be used as an indicator of the general wellbeing of the patient.