As an Osteopath at the Bodyfix Clinic, I understand that booking an appointment could potentially be a worrying or concerning experience because you are unsure about what will happen when the clinic door closes.

You may be experiencing lower back pain from sitting at a desk for too long?  You may be experiencing shoulder pain from using power-tools?  Or you may suffer with Osteoarthritis in your knee? The chances are that one of our Osteopaths can help you with this and get you back to your day to day activities.  

So, I would like to spend a few minutes explaining what would happen on your first visit and hopefully put your mind at rest. 

Booking an appointment

Once you have decided that you do want to seek some advice and treatment for your stiff neck or tennis elbow, you can either book online or if you would prefer to hear a friendly voice, then call the clinic on 0208 394 0393. The initial consultation is 45 minutes.

If you are unsure whether we can help with your condition, please call and reserve a free ‘Discovery Session’.  It will allow you to understand whether it is something that Osteopathy can help with or if further investigation from a GP would be necessary.

Arriving at your appointment

When you arrive at BodyFix you will be greeted and asked to fill out three short forms. One is about your general details (Name, address etc) and some information about your health.  The next form is to say that you are happy to have an examination and treatment (more about that later). And the final one is for GDPR and storing your details (medical records must be stored safely for 7 years). After these are completed, you will then be greeted by your practitioner and taken into one of our 3 treatment rooms. 

During your appointment

The practitioner will sit you down and explain about what will happen during the session.  It will begin with some questioning about your current complaint.  That can include how it happened? how long ago?, aggravating factors? etc.  They may also ask you some screening questions too. For example, if you have left arm pain, they will ask if you are you experiencing chest pain or palpitations etc

Examination

We will often ask you to remove some clothing, so that the examination can be completed effectively.  If you feel more comfortable you can wear shorts or loose trousers.  Gowns are also available for your comfort.

Then we will start with an observation of your posture and palpate the muscles to feel for tightness. 

The ‘Active’ examination is next.  This means that you will do some movements for example bending forwards to see if these replicate your pain. 

We will then perform the ‘Passive’ examination.  This is where the practitioner will take the joints through various ranges of movement. They will also examine the joints above and below too (eg. your ankle and hip, if your knee is hurting).

Other tests

Sometimes specific orthopaedic or neurological tests may be needed too.  There is too much to explain about that here, but if you have any questions, you can ask the practitioner during the session.

All of these processes help us to understand more about the injury and formulate a diagnosis. 

Treatment

Once a diagnosis has been reached and we have explained this to you, the treatment can begin.  Osteopathy is mostly a ‘hands on’ treatment and the practitioner will be working on you.  This can involve mobilising joints that are restricted, stretching muscles, providing friction to ligaments, therapeutic ultrasound, muscle activation and much more.

All of these are designed to improve functioning and mobility in the body. It will help you to return back to what you love doing and help you stay injury free in the future.

Will it hurt?

A lot of people report feeling better after a session, whereas others report some stiffness afterwards. This is normal.  If a joint has been restricted for a while and is then worked on by the Osteopath, some soreness is to be expected.  This usually only last 1-2 days and the practitioner will explain how to reduce this from happening.

  

Follow up sessions

Patients will often ask how many sessions they will need. We will always try to give you an answer to this based on research and clinical experience. However, it is a hard question to answer here, as different injuries take different amounts of time to improve. Your Osteopath will always try to keep you informed as much as possible in this regard.

For more information about Osteopathy you can visit www.osteopathy.org.uk/home

To book an appointment at BodyFix Clinic you can visit www.bodyfixclinic.co.uk/contact-us/

For more information on our free Discovery Session.

We look forward to working with you in the future.