Why osteopathy?

Why osteopathy? It is a question that I often follow with, if I had a pound every time somebody asked this question. At age 15 I started a love affair with wearing white pyjamas, kicking, punching, throwing and feeling very sore after training. In 1994 I took and passed my 1st degree in Tae Kwon Do. I could kick hard enough to break a house brick. In all honesty I cut my foot on the brick! My turning kick was fast and powerful, even above my own head height. We all stretched to increase our flexibility and avoid injuries. Aside from some occasional episodes of low back pain and stiffness I was free of pain until at age 31 I ceased martial arts training and gained about 15kilogrammes of body weight, mostly on my love handles. I ballooned up to 106 kilogrammes. To get back into shape I joined David Lloyd in Derby and took up heavy weight training, (well heavy for me!) Over three years I lost 6 kilogrammes and gained awful, lower back, shoulder and neck pain.


Osteopathy was kindly recommended to me after I attempted to front squat 80 kilogrammes, pressed the weight up, reached the point where the weight was to much for my strength, where I let my shoulders roll forward, (see the 3rd drawing above for how not to front squat.) pushed up once more, when pain hit me in my low back! On reflection the pain was a combination of bad diet, red wine, poor lifting technique, absent core stability and mild body dysmophic disorder BDD.

The osteopath helped me but I needed to know more about this science. What are these strange sounding muscles? Why do joints pop or crack, then feel much better? How are osteopaths different from Physiotherapists? Two years later and I was studying part-time with the College of Osteopaths. This lead me down a 5 and a half year life changing path of enlightenment and tiredness!

I received with eager hands my Keele University certificate making official my BSc in Osteopathy, with a fair 2.2 or Desmond Tutu. Alas my registration as an osteopath will now be set back at least a fortnight as my latest CRB has just expired. But what about my working as an unregistered osteopath? Or put another way how is treating people using the osteopathic diagnosis approach?

It still impresses me when people get of my treatment table and exclaim their delight at how different they feel! Occasionally people do not respond, which is really irritating for both parties. Fortunately unresponsive patients are few and far between. Still people who do not feel improved do not re-book, and therefore my desire to learn new approaches, ask more precise questions, test my patient's pain presentation more accurately and  figure out what is causing the patient their pain. So in conclusion working using the osteopathic screen is challenging and rewarding!

Osteopathy on the eve of registration..

Someone once said that the job is not finished until the paperwork is done. Like many old sayings there is a nugget of truth hidden away in that saying. I passed my osteopathy finals on the 8th of February and have waited fairly patiently to be registered since then. Until I am registered, I cannot call myself an osteopath. Five and a half years later,  in exchange for a second degree I have given up one good job, my house, too much money to even begin to think about and at least one cherished friendship.

Has it all been worth it? YES it has. Being a student while working as a school teacher has given me a clearer view of what is important in life. (Friends and family) Having to learn a whole new skill-set while unlearning some unhelpful attitudes has meant a lot of self doubt and tears but fortunately much patience from my osteopathic tutors at Staffs Uni osteo programme. Link Excessive pressure applied makes me learn but suffer. Babies need to pushed out of the nest at some point, its how you push people that matters, not what is in your heart.

I am about to change the sign over my clinic door, update my website Link2, add a new website and further insist that I justify the treatments that I do. If osteopathy is that which osteopaths do, then this osteopath has got to avoid taking the easy route. My view of how osteopaths treat their patients has changed, and will continue to change as my experience grows.