What to expect at your first appointment

When visiting an osteopath for the first time, it is natural to feel a little unsure of what to expect. The following fact sheet has been developed to explain what happens and answer any questions you may have. If you have any other concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact the practice by telephone, prior to attending your appointment.

Osteopaths are healthcare professionals who are specifically trained in diagnosing health issues. At the start of your first appointment, your osteopath will ask you questions about your medical history and lifestyle, as well as any symptoms you may be experiencing. This is very important as it will help them to make an accurate diagnosis and suggest appropriate treatment.

They will write down what you tell them in your records. These will be treated as confidential in accordance with standards of practice set out by the General Osteopathic Council and the Data Protection Act 1998. If you wish, you may request a copy of your notes, but you may be charged an administration fee for this.

Your osteopath will need to examine the area(s) of your body causing discomfort. Sometimes the cause of the problem may be in a different area to the pain, (For example, pain in your lower arm may be linked to the nerves in your neck) so they may need to examine your whole body. They will need to feel for any tightness in the muscles and stiffness in the joints and may need to touch these areas to identify problems. They will explain what they are doing as they go along.

If you are uncomfortable with any part of this, you have the right to ask them to stop at any stage, without prejudicing your future treatment.

As with any healthcare appointment, it may be necessary for your osteopath to ask you to remove some clothing. This is so they can see and touch the areas of the body causing you concern. Your osteopath will want you to feel at ease, therefore if you feel uncomfortable undressing to your underwear, your osteopath may be able to suggest wearing clothing, such as shorts and a t-shirt, or close-fitting garments, that will enable them to work effectively, so please do discuss this with them.

You may wish to seek treatment from an osteopath of the same sex as yourself. You are also welcome to ask a friend or relative to accompany you and be present throughout your appointment.

Your osteopath will make a diagnosis and discuss a course of treatment with you. This may involve further visits for manual therapy – a range of gentle hands on techniques that focus on releasing tension, stretching muscles and mobilising joints. Together with exercises that you can do at home and helpful advice designed to help you relieve or manage your pain, keep active and maintain the best of health. They will discuss the likely cost of this and ask for your consent to begin treatment.

Most osteopaths will begin your treatment at your first appointment, but sometimes they may require further tests first i.e. blood tests or scans. Occasionally they may diagnose an illness that they are unable to treat and may refer you to your GP or another appropriate health professional.

Osteopathic treatment is usually a very gentle process and osteopaths work very hard to make treatment as painless as possible, but you may experience some discomfort during and after treatment. Your osteopath will warn you if they think that the technique that they are about to use is likely to be uncomfortable and will stop if you tell them that you are feeling too much pain.

Following treatment, you may experience some mild soreness in the area of the body that was treated, this will normally resolve within 48 hours. If you experience serious or unusual symptoms after treatment, you should contact your osteopath straight away for advice.

You can be confident that your osteopath has the highest level of training and expertise, and will provide a safe and effective diagnosis and treatment for you. In the UK, the osteopathic profession is regulated by the General Osteopathic Council and osteopaths are trained to degree level, taking a minimum of four years, including over 1000 hours of contact time with patients at undergraduate level.

Osteopaths are also recognised by the NHS as Allied Health Professionals and play a critical role in the diagnosis, treatment and care of people of all ages.

Injury pain Related questions

Pain Relief is one of the main goals of osteopathy. Treating pain caused by sports injuries, work-related injuries, arthritis and sciatica; osteopathy helps people of all ages and conditions. Treatment by an osteopath may relieve pain, improve mobility and make life more comfortable or enable you to get back to your everyday life as quickly as possible.

If you’re suffering back pain, you’re not alone. According to research, 60% of the UK’s populations will suffer from lower back pain at some stage. Osteopathy may help to reduce pain and restore back function and mobility to normal.

Being a natural approach to healthcare, osteopathy is an excellent remedy for most sports injuries. At Chelmsford Osteopathic Practice, we’ve treated many sports injuries from professional athletes and sporting professionals to injuries caused from the gym or playing Frisbee with the kids!

Pain is often caused or exasperated by driving. Driving can cause back pain, neck pain, hip pain and many others. If you are suffering pain behind the wheel or even in the passenger seat, whether it be a car, bus, lorry or any other type of vehicle, Chelmsford Osteopathic Practice may help to reduce the pain and offer advice including simple exercises to prevent suffering.

Over 300million sick days are taken in the UK every year due to injuries caused in the work place. Whether your pain and discomfort is caused by lifting heavy loads, sitting at your PC for prolonged periods or driving long distances Chelmsford Osteopathic Practice may ease your pain and advice on correcting your posture and preventative exercise to avoid future problems. We can even provide ‘off work’ certificates if required.

If your pain, strain or injury is not mentioned above, it does not mean that we cannot help, so please feel free to contact us for more information any time.

About Osteopathy

Osteopaths are recognised by the NHS as highly competent healthcare professionals fully qualified and able to diagnose and treat patients independently.

Over 30,000 people every day visit an osteopath suffering from a variety of conditions including neck or back pain, joint or muscular pain, sports injuries, recurring headaches and more.

Many patients are those suffering with work related strains or pain and stiffness related to older age. You do not need a referral from your Dr to see an osteopath so waiting times are very much reduced. You will be seen quickly and professionally by the team at Chelmsford Osteopathic Practice

Whilst osteopathy uses many conventional medical assessment and diagnostic procedures, its main strength lies in the unique way it assesses the postural, mechanical and functional characteristics of the patient and the manual treatment methods which are tailored to the needs of each patient.

A great deal of the pain and discomfort suffered by the human body comes from problems in the function of the body structure as well as damage caused by its disease and osteopathy’s unique blend of body manipulation, exercise and medicine means it’s well equipped to give long lasting relief from pain and discomfort.

Using a wide variety of approaches to treatment, osteopaths can bring relief or improvement to many conditions, with patients including, sportsmen and women, children and the elderly and conditions ranging from whiplash to problems which arise during or after pregnancy.

Extensive clinical training and a full knowledge of basic medical science enables an osteopath to distinguish conditions which are alleviated by osteopathic treatment from those which are not.

All our practitioners are qualified to the highest standard.

It is our aim to offer the best treatment to all our patients.

We Offer Different Treatments to your Pain

Osteopathy is an effective solution for all ages. An Osteopath can advise you on appropriate exercise programmes, correct seating at home and at work, how to lift correctly, how to improve your diet and many other aspects of general health that may be appropriate to aid your full recovery. It helps restore the function of the musculoskeletal system including ligaments, joints and muscles.

  • Neck and back ache
  • Hip, thigh, knee and shin
  • Calf and foot pain
  • Whiplash
  • Stiffness
  • Stress
  • Aches and Pains during pregnancy
  • Rheumatic pain
  • Digestive problems
  • Circulatory problems
  • Sciatica
  • Flexibility
  • Arthritis
  • Frozen shoulder

What our clients Say

My name is Angela and I am a showjumper. I travel all over Europe with my horses to participate at showjumping events on different levels. Everyday I spend couple of hours riding horses and preparing them for the competitions. This is a lot of fun and very enjoyable, but unfortunately there are a few health issues involved, mainly back problems. Riding is a great workout but it strains the back muscles very much, which then results in pain in my case. When I first came to Rob my back was not in very good condition I guess. I even experienced headaches caused by my back problems. They disappeared just after the first treatment and never came back. At the beginning, I went to see him every 3 to 4 weeks to just help to gain a better back health. Now I am so much better that I just have to see him occasionally when I have a specific problem. Rob also showed me a few stretching and strengthening exercises which I can easily do on my own everyday and now I am feeling so much better, the treatment just helps me to enjoy a mainly pain free life and also to prevent damage.

Angela Kubli

UK

My training is very intense and I saw Rob for problems with my hip/back. He helps keep me supple for those hurdles!! Thanks Rob!

Julie Pratt

1998 World Under 20 Champion - Annecy, France 1999 Euro Under 23 Silver - Gothenburg, Sweden 2002 & 2006 Commonwealth Games Finalist - Manchester, UK & Melbourne, Australia

I saw Rob because I was getting problems in my hip region when boxing. Rob checked me over and told me it was a problem with my sacro-iliac joint. A few sessions and I was fixed. I see Rob now before any big fight!

Tom Glover British Masters Lightweight Title 2007

London

I first saw Rob when I started getting shoulder and upper back problems after throwing the javelin. Rob explained to me what was going on and after a few treatments my shoulder and back were fine. I see Rob every few months for a check over.

Louise Matthews

Junior International Javelin Thrower Performance Javelin Coach

I have been seeing Rob over the last 6 months for an ongoing shoulder injury. Because of my intense training regime and the fights I find Robs treatments invaluable. I cant recommend him enough!

Neil Grove

Neil 'Goliath Grove' Cage Rage World Heavy Weight Champion British heavyweight Neil Grove is the latest fighter to be added to the UFC’s heavyweight division

I injured my shoulder while on stage and thought I would be off work for the next week. I had two sessions with Rob which helped considerably and kept me on stage!

Gavin Wilkinson

Gavin has appeared as Pepper in Mamma Mia!, Baby John / Action in West Side Story, Our House with Suggs, Tom Sawyer in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and most recently as Sam and Gimli in The Lord of the Rings in the recent West End productions. Gavin was a featured dancer in the recent film, The Phantom of the Opera and has appeared in Grange Hill and Smart Alek with Sean Locke

After a glowing recommendation I took my elderly mother to see Robert with chronic knee and shoulder pain. At the age of 80 she received much relief and professional care. He explained exactly what was going on which eased her concerns. Rob's professional treatment has improved her quality of life.

Assunta Rocco

UK
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