Your First Visit

Allow up to an hour for your first visit, which will begin with your osteopath asking in detail all about your symptoms and how they began, and also about your general health and your medical history. Please mention anything at all that you think may be relevant.

This will be followed by a physical assessment – looking not only at the area where your pain is, but also at your whole posture, alignment, and the way you move, because often symptoms in one place can be caused elsewhere in the body without you being aware of it. It is usually preferable for you to remove some outer clothing at this stage – this is not essential but it enables the osteopath to really assess your spine properly, and also later allows treatment to be fully effective. It’s important that you feel totally comfortable – gowns and shorts are provided for those that want them, or you may prefer to bring your own sports clothes or loose fitting garments to change in to (strappy vest tops and/or pyjama/running type shorts are ideal). You are welcome to bring someone with you into the treatment room if you wish.

Osteopaths are trained to have highly sensitive hands, so our palpation (touch) plays an important role in finding the areas of your body that might be causing issues. We also use conventional medical screening methods, so we can safely identify those rare occasions when our treatment would not be suitable and then refer you to another medical practitioner if necessary.

When the consultation is complete a full explanation as to the cause of your symptoms and how we can help them will be given before starting treatment.