What We Treat
We treat a wide range of issues and may be able to help with things you wouldn’t expect. If you’re not sure if we can help with your particular problem call or email us and we’ll be happy to discuss it with you.
Regardless of age or gender, 80 per cent of the population will suffer from back pain at some time in their life.
Common causes of back pain include extensive sitting or standing; heavy lifting; injury; pregnancy; constipation, irritable bowel and endometriosis; menstrual pain; insufficient flexibility; muscle weakness; dysfunction in the thorax, lower limbs and pelvis.
There are several more serious causes of low back pain such as disc injury, fracture, tumour and infection. Osteopaths, as primary health care practitioners, are trained to differentiate between uncomplicated back pain and back pain requiring referral to specialist care.
We will help you develop the most effective course of action to manage your back pain.
Your osteopath may:
- Improve joint mobility
- Reduce muscular tension, inflammation and nerve irritation
- Improve blood supply and drainage to and from the spine and pelvis
- Reduce the duration of low back pain episodes
- Help prevent future episodes
- Offer advice on posture, exercises and stretching
- Provide advice on improving your ergonomic environment
- Provide guidance on diet, hydration and exercise
- Communicate and plan treatment with your GP and insurer
- Refer you for radiological assessment when required.
Top tips for back care:
- Seek osteopathic advice regularly
- Keep mobile and exercise daily. Nothing is better than walking or swimming!
- During repetitive tasks or heavy labour, make sure to vary your rhythm, take regular breaks, and have a careful stretch
- Keep well hydrated to keep your spine more mobile
- Eat sufficient protein to help repair tissue
- Be careful when lifting
- Have regular osteopathic care during pregnancy and while breastfeeding
- Ensure you have a supportive mattress
- Make sure your children do not carry a heavy bag on one shoulder or spend too much time in front of a PC or TV.
The most common type of headaches originates from muscle stiffness or joint strain in the neck and upper thoracic region.
Other causes include eye strain; sinus congestion; whiplash injury, stress, poor posture, jaw imbalance and teeth grinding; infection, allergies and food intolerances.
Osteopathy can treat headaches effectively.
We may help to:
- Improve your general mobility
- Improve the mobility of your ribs and thoracic and cervical spine
- Reduce muscular tension, nerve compression and inflammation
- Improve blood supply and drainage to and from the head and neck
- Advise on posture, exercise and stretching to help prevent a recurrence of symptoms
- Offer guidance on diet and hydration
- Advise on improving the ergonomics of your home or workplace.
Osteopaths, as primary health care practitioners, are trained to differentiate between headaches with common causes and those due to serious pathology. You should always seek advice from a health professional, including an osteopath, if you get a headache after a head trauma and/or the headache is getting worse.
You should also seek professional advice if the headache is accompanied by:
- Fever
- Nausea or vomiting
- Bleeding or fluid draining from the nose or ears
- Dizziness
- Blurred vision or speech
- Numbness, tingling or paralysis.
Whether sport is a hobby or you are an elite athlete, we may help prevent and treat many sporting injuries, including neck and back strains; shoulder, elbow and wrist injuries; hip and pelvic injuries such as osteitis pubis; and knee, leg and ankle injuries.
Reduced joint or muscle flexibility will affect your performance and may result in injury if you don’t realise that you can’t perform at your usual level. If you do become injured, we may be able to facilitate a return to optimal function and prevent compensatory strains from occurring. This may minimise re-injury and allow a quicker return to physical activity.
Osteopathic treatment involves manual techniques, including soft tissue stretching, mobilisation, inhibition and manipulation. These techniques assist in improving elasticity, strength, endurance, mobility and performance.
Sport and children
Children need to grow with optimal mobility, strength and balance. Sport and exercise can place exceptional demands on their bodies. Children should be cared for by professionals who are fully aware of the needs of young growing bodies.
Before treating your child, we will perform a comprehensive physical examination and refer to other health care professionals if necessary. We may provide nutritional advice along with strategies, exercises and routines to help your child avoid further injury and stay healthy, happy and active.
Did you know?
- Osteitis pubis is related to pelvic and lower limb strains
- Hamstring and groin injuries invariably involve low back or pelvic restriction and imbalances
- Knee pain is related to poor foot and ankle mechanics, thigh muscle tension and hip dysfunction
- Shoulder injuries can be caused by tension in the ribs, neck, shoulder blade and upper back
- Shin splints involve poor mechanics of both leg bones
- Joint injections and pain killers may only mask the problem. Unless you deal directly with the cause of your problem, further injury and joint degeneration will result.
What to do when you suffer a sports injury
To avoid injury whilst playing sport, make sure you warm up and warm down with stretches. You should also drink plenty of water to keep your spine more mobile. If you do get injured, remain calm and apply the following basic first aid procedure:
Rest – to reduce further stress to the injury
Ice – apply an ice pack for 10 minutes every hour to reduce inflammation
Compress – gently apply bandages towards the heart to minimise swelling
Elevate – raise the injured area to improve drainage.
Seek proper medical assessment, including osteopathic assessment, as soon as you can.
Muscular flexibility and joint range of motion are taken for granted by most people and rarely a major focus in fitness and training regimes, yet they are the major precursor to injury and a limiting factor to sporting performance.
To help explain this statement consider why the average golfer cannot play a consistent 18 holes or why a thinly built teenager can drive a ball further than a stocky stronger man? Many golfers will know the answer is ‘timing’ i.e contacting the ball with the sweet spot of the club head at the optimal speed. ‘Timing’ is heavily reliant on smooth, coordinated joint motion and hence any resistance from tight muscles and stiff joints is going to effect the timing of the swing. Which is why some golfers improve as they get warmer, others decline as they stiffen up, and a younger more flexible person can connect better with the ball than a stronger but less flexible person.
These same principles can be applied to all sports and explain why not only a more flexible person can perform longer and more consistently but why a less flexible person pushing them self to a high level is at great risk of injury.
We use a variety of ‘hands on’ treatment techniques to improve your muscular flexibility and joint range of motion and will assess and treat not only the area of pain but all those related regions which may have predisposed to the injury or are being affected by it. The benefit of seeing an Osteopath for a sporting injury is that we will identify the cause of the injury, which not only aids full recovery but may also greatly reduce the risk of reoccurrence.
The most common sporting injuries we treat and manage are:
- Ankle Ligament sprains/tears
- Shoulder tendonitis/impingement
- Knee ligament and tendon injuries
- Muscle strains/tears
- Chronic Hip/Groin/Hamstring injuries
- Rehabilitation of knee/ankle/shoulder reconstruction and arthroscopes
We will generally prescribe for you the appropriate exercises to maintain joint range of motion and muscular flexibility and where required the relevant strengthening exercises also.
Painful feet are very debilitating. Pain in the heel area is especially common and may be associated with a calcaneal spur, usually referred to as a heel spur.
Our feet are made up of a series of small bones, known as the tarsal bones. These tarsal bones, starting from the calcaneus (heel) form an arch, which is supported by a strong band of sinew (plantar fascia) stretching across the sole of the foot below the surface of the skin.
With repeated activity on our feet, this fascia causes persistent traction (tugging) on the attachment point into the bone, and inflammation and pain may develop at this site. This painful condition is known as plantar fasciitis.
Sometimes a sharp ‘spur’ develops at the site of this traction on the bone and protrudes into the surrounding tissue. But the pain is usually due to the plantar fasciitis, rather than the heel spur itself.
Inadequate arch support from poor footwear is the most common cause of plantar fasciitis. As the arch is collapsing the plantar fascia is placed under great stress and often other muscles of the foot and lower leg are utilised to help stabilise. The result being marked joint restriction and muscular tension and pain in the foot and lower leg.
We will not only advise you on appropriate footwear and exercises but will work to increase the joint range of motion and flexibility of muscles in the feet and lower leg.
In some situations use of heel cups and arch supports may be sought.
Knee pain is very distressing and greatly debilitating. There are so many degrees and causes of knee pain and so much public awareness due to the high incidence in sporting arenas.
This public awareness often means people think the trauma in their knee is far greater than the actual pathology. Sports people will always fear the worst anticipating that a reconstruction and months away from sport has occurred and our older generation will fear their knee has worn out to the point of soon replacement!
Despite the high incidence of knee trauma from falls and collisions most knee pain is due to altered joint and muscle mechanics particularly of the patellofemoral (knee cap) joint.
The patella (kneecap) slides up and down on the shiny cartilage surface of the femur (thigh bone) and is enveloped by the powerful muscles of the thigh (quadriceps). The main action of the patella is to increase the leverage of the quadriceps muscles and hence enhance power and range of knee extension.
If the patella is not sliding evenly in this groove, pain particularly when the quadriceps are contracting (e.g squatting, walking up and down stairs, running) is highly likely to occur. This is usually a gradual occurrence and explains why people may experience episodes of swelling after these activities.
The patellofemoral joint is reliant on symmetrical flexibility and strength of the quadriceps muscles. If the muscles on the outer thigh are tighter and stronger than the inner thigh the patella will be pulled toward the outside of the joint surface. This is a very common occurrence as the muscles of the outer thigh and buttocks are used whenever we weightbear and gradually become tighter and tighter. If this tension is not released (particularly by stretching) the patella will continue to be pulled off centre increasing the likelihood of patella tendonitis, bursitis and ultimately arthritis of the patellofemoral joint.
Further contributing factors to the patella maltracking (moving off centre) include:
- Wasting of inner thigh muscles (often after previous injury)
- Feet rolling inward due to unsupported arches and poor footwear
- Wider hips (especially females) increase the angle of thigh muscles
- Legs bowing inward (knock knees) increase the angle of thigh muscles
We will determine the cause of your knee pain and most importantly help you correct the mechanics of your knee and patellofemoral joints so that you may move around with confidence and comfort. If need be, we will refer you for further medical assessment.
Wherever bones, tendons or ligaments come into contact with each other there is a fluid filled sack present which sits between them called a bursa. A bursa prevents these structures from rubbing on each other. Bursitis is a condition where there is inflammation of this bursa. It is often related to overuse of a particular joint, or where there is excess tension on a specific area over a long period of time.
Bursitis can also be caused by trauma of a specific area, such as a fall or car accident, which can instantly cause inflammation of that area.
The most common areas within the body that can be affected by bursitis are:
- Shoulder joint – when there is bursitis in this area, it can often cause impingement of the surrounding muscles resulting in a painful shoulder with reduced range of motion.
- Hip joint – There are two common areas of bursitis in the hip: bursitis on the side of the hip called Trochanteric Bursitis as well as a common bursitis in the gluteal area called Gluteus Medius Bursitis.
- Knees – (Clergyman’s knee) is the inflammation of the Infrapatella Bursa, which is located just below the kneecap
- Bursitis is also common in the elbows, wrists and ankles.
The symptoms associated with bursitis can include:
- Pain
- Inflammation
- Swelling
- Restricted range of motion of a joint
- Warm or red skin overlying the affected area.
We will diagnose bursitis through asking a full medical history, as well as conducting a full orthopaedic and musculoskeletal examination. We will then look structurally at the related area to see if there are any muscles, ligaments, tendons or joints that are aggravating the bursa. By relieving the pressure of these structures on the bursa using hands-on manual techniques, the bursa may then be able to start the healing process and the inflammation may reduce. If we find any related muscle imbalance or weakness, we will give you exercises to address this issue and may also refer you for an x-ray or refer you back to your GP for an ultrasound of the affected area to confirm the diagnosis.
We may also advise you to rest the affected joint, use hot and cold compress to relieve the pain or see your Pharmacist for anti-inflammatory medication.
Osteopathy: A beneficial approach to pregnancy and post-natal care.
Your osteopath may help prevent or manage a wide range of musculoskeletal issues related to pre-and post-natal conditions, either solely or in conjunction with other health care practitioners.
Osteopathy during pregnancy
Osteopathy is a form of manual medicine which treats the whole person. We will carefully select the most appropriate treatment techniques for you and your growing baby.
Changes during pregnancy
During pregnancy, your body undergoes tremendous change to accommodate the growing foetus. Apart from the obvious physical changes like expansion of the abdominal region, hormonal releases can affect the function of your body’s internal systems.
As your pregnancy progresses, the extra weight creates a shift in your body’s centre of gravity. Your supporting ligaments also soften. These factors can add stress to your body, causing problems like back pain, sciatica, swelling, and fatigue. We offer advice about managing these symptoms and demonstrate self-help techniques which you and your partner can use during pregnancy and labour.
Our aim is to assist the natural process of pregnancy and birth — maximising your body’s ability to change and support you and your baby with a minimum of pain and discomfort.
Birthing and beyond
In birthing, the descent of the baby through the pelvis is influenced by a range of factors. If the mother’s pelvis is twisted or stiff, it can interfere with the baby’s passage through the birth canal. Osteopathic care may be able to restore and maintain normal pelvic alignment and mobility, and contribute to a successful birth and healthy baby.
After the birth, we may advise you to make return visits with your newborn to help prevent or manage problems like pelvic and low back strain, and pelvic floor weakness. This may help you meet your baby’s needs, whilst caring for your own.
Osteopaths may be able to treat musculoskeletal complaints associated with pregnancy and the post-natal period. The powerful process of birth has an enormous affect on the baby. A difficult labour may lead to musculoskeletal issues.
Common issues that we treat:
- Lower back pain and sciatica
- Aching legs or feet
- Numbness and tingling in the hands
- Neck, shoulder or middle back pain
Osteopathy recognises the particular stresses on the body undergone by children as they grow from babies to teenagers and has developed an approach to work with children of all ages.
We treat babies, children and teenagers for a range of musculoskeletal conditions.
A range of problems may interfere with the normal development of a child. Trauma during pregnancy and birth, childhood accidents and falls, or simply the rapid changes of the body’s growth can create or contribute to problems associated with bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons and nerves. Other issues faced by children include postural problems, inflammatory conditions and sporting injuries.
We will work with you and your child to plan the best way forward. We will examine and diagnose problems and before treatment commences will prepare a comprehensive case history of your child. They will complete a physical examination to determine which type of osteopathic treatment is suitable and if a referral to other health care practitioners is needed. We may also offer advice on nutrition, general health, posture and exercise.
Osteopathic care may assist the young body to adapt to growth-related changes which can prevent musculoskeletal problems which may help your baby grow into a healthy child and, ultimately, a healthy young adult.
Conditions that we treat in children and teenagers include:
- Back pain
- Neck pain associated with headaches
- Growing pains in muscles, bones and joints
- Postural problems including curvature of the spine
- Back pain resulting from period pain
- Walking difficulties or foot pain
- Sporting injuries
- The physical effects of cerebral palsy.
Osteopathic treatment may go a long way towards relieving some of these distressing conditions. If surgery is also required, the post-operative recovery period can be prolonged and painful. Osteopathy may be helpful during the recuperation period.
Osteopathic techniques aim to maintain your health, increase mobility, improve balance, help prevent further joint wear and tear, and keep you active and independent.
Many older Australians mistakenly believe that the effect of ageing on their body’s joints is untreatable and inevitable, and they have no alternative but to learn to live a lesser life with their pain.
Keeping mobile is the key to your health, happiness and independence. We may be able to offer treatment and advice to help harness your body’s natural healing systems which may improve mobility, circulation and balance, reducing joint stiffness and helping you lead a more fulfilling life.
We can provide:
- Treatment that may keep your body balanced and mobile
- Home exercises to keep you stronger and more flexible
- Advice on nutrition
- Guidance about outdoor exercising, such as a daily walk to keep your circulation healthy and maintain muscle tone
- Advice about gentle stretches to help maintain joint and muscle flexibility and assist in preventing injuries
- Information about therapies like Tai Chi, yoga or gym-based training which may maximise your balance and strength.
As we get older, the body loses elasticity increasing the chance of injuring the soft tissues and bony structures. The body also loses some of its ability to recover from injuries or strains. We can work with other health practitioners to ensure a holistic approach to your health care.