What are Osteopaths?
Your trusted London osteopaths for Lewisham, Blackheath and Greenwich provide expert osteopathic treatment for your pains and injuries. Osteopaths are highly qualified healthcare professionals treating a variety of medical conditions. We specialise in the effective examination, diagnosis, treatment, management and prevention of musculoskeletal (bones, joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, nerves etc.) and related problems. Osteopathy at Blackheath Clinic considers the individual structure and function of your body as a whole and the effort it is put through during your daily requirements. Your health depends on the balanced and harmonious interplay of each part and osteopathic treatment will, therefore, focus on restoring this state of balance within your body using a great variety of techniques.
Osteopaths are strictly regulated by law and undergo a minimum of 4 to 5 years of intense medical training including anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, neurology and pathology with a clinical focus on manual techniques, functional exercises, pain management and lifestyle modifications to improve your health. Osteopathy a legally protected health profession and all practitioners must register with the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) - similar to medical doctors registering to the General Medical Council. This guarantees a high level of care and professionalism for you. Our practitioners also keep up to date with the latest developments through continuous professional development (CPD) courses. |
Who can see our Osteopaths at Blackheath Clinic?Osteopaths are primary healthcare practitioners - therefore you can bring but do not need a referral from a GP and can easily book your initial consultation. Our clients range from busy city workers to competitive athletes & professional dancers or those taking care of their health regularly and till old age. We offer expert treatment to people form diverse backgrounds living locally in Blackheath, Greenwich and Lewisham as well as all London: office workers, sportsmen and sportswomen, pregnant women, the young or older people to name a few.
Who can Benefit from Osteopathy?Osteopathic treatment is beneficial to people of all ages and levels of fitness as it will improve the balanced function of your neuromusculoskeletal system, whether you have an acute or chronic problem or just want to maintain your musculoskeletal health. Why delay getting effective treatment when you can see an osteopath for your pains, aches, injuries, stiffness and imbalances?
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What to Expect from your First Appointment at Blackheath Clinic?
Your first consultation will include getting to know your problem (case history), examining and assessing your body to find the root cause of your complaint (physical examination), explaining the finding so you understand what is going on (diagnosis) and starting osteopathic treatment.
Our osteopaths offer patient-centred healthcare and aim to understand the full nature of your problem or pain in order to design a specific treatment plan. Therefore, your initial consultation will start with a detailed case history: You can expect that we will listen carefully and ask questions about your current complaint (location, pain character, onset, aggravating and relieving movements, etc.) as well as your general health (previous operations, investigations, medication, etc.) and requirements your body goes through (leisure activities, sports, work environment, etc.). Rest assured, all this information will help to inform the subsequent physical examination, diagnosis and treatment plan and is kept strictly confidential!
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Based on this information, we will then do an in depth physical examination. Depending on your complaint, it is likely that we ask you to remove some of your clothing - tell us if you are uncomfortable about this and we can provide a gown, towels, or sport shorts to make you feel comfortable (or you can bring a friend or relative to accompany you during your treatment). The examination techniques used will very much depend on your presenting complaint. Generally they include a postural assessment, spinal assessment, specific active and passive movements to see how your body structures function, joint examinations to assess the range of movement, integrity of ligaments, tendons and muscular control as well as orthopaedic or neurological testing if required. Tissue tension will be assessed using the osteopath's hands and their highly developed sense of touch (palpation), as changes in tissue texture such as muscle hypertonicity or scar tissue will indicate underlying neuromuskuloskeletal problems.
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Based on the findings of the detailed physical examination, your osteopath will provide you with a clear explanation of what they found and how this relates to your problem (working diagnosis) and suggest a treatment plan accordingly. In some cases, your osteopath might find further medical testing useful (such as X-rays or information from your GP) or advise you to see your GP first - in this case they will provide you with a precise referral letter and work closely with other healthcare providers to get you better.
In most cases, however, your practitioner will offer to start osteopathic treatment immediately to decrease your pains and imbalances. You will also discuss the likely number of sessions needed for a noticeable improvement in your symptoms and wellbeing.
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What does our Specialist Osteopathic Treatment Involve?
The osteopaths at Blackheath Sports Clinic offer treatment that is hands-on and aims to help alleviate your symptoms as well as address the underlying issues in your body to prevent the pain from coming back. This involves a variety of advanced manual techniques, including the skilled manipulation of your spine (high velocity thrusts), targeted articulations of your joints and treatment of your soft tissues such as tendons, fascia and muscles as well as connective tissue stretching and deep massage techniques. As our bodies are incredibly complex, the pain and stiffness you are experiencing in one area might be linked to a problem elsewhere (compensation, predisposing factors). Therefore our treatment will most likely address several areas of your body and not be limited to the exact location of your symptoms. Due to the physical nature of treatment, it is not unusual to feel a bit sore in the first 24-48 hours after treatment.
Your treatment plan might also include specific exercises or stretches aiming to increase movement control, range and strength as well as general postural alignment. We will also offer advice on modification of your sports and daily activities or your workplace setup to assist your recovery and prevent the recurrence or worsening of symptoms. |
The progress you make also depends on YOUR active cooperation and we will encourage you to take responsibility of YOUR body and work together with us as a team to get you back to enjoying the things you like doing in your life. And we believe that doing a stretch or exercise at home in addition to receiving specialist treatment does not seem to be too high a price for achieving this goal.
To tailor the treatment plan to your personal needs and give you the fastest and best results, the osteopaths at Blackheath Clinic are also using:
Seeing an osteopath is not a one-off magical bullet that will cure your pains overnight, but an investment into your future health. Therefore, on your first visit, you most likely will be offered follow-up sessions to receive more treatment and support you on your way to recovery. These sessions will be more hands-on and treatment focused compared to your initial consultation.
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Your First Consultation vs Follow-up Treatment with your Osteopath
The initial osteopathic consultation at Blackheath Clinic allocates time for the case history and thorough examinations, which naturally limits the amount of time for receiving treatment within your first session. Follow-up sessions are then primarily focused on giving hands-on treatment, with a very short catch up chat in the beginning to review your response to the your last session or any changes to your symptoms and general health. Then we will jump straight into giving you as much treatment as possible. Your progress will be reviewed at each subsequent visit to make sure you are on track, and the treatment plan amended accordingly.
The number of sessions needed for a noticeable improvement in your wellbeing depends on a variety of factors including the severity and complexity of your presenting complaint, the duration you had this problem for, the demands that are placed on your body while you are recovering, and on how much you actively participate in the treatment. However, with your collaboration, our osteopaths can help reduce your pain levels quickly, improve the movement and function of you body and help you return to the activities you love doing in your life. |
What can the Osteopaths at Blackheath Sports Clinic Treat?
Osteopaths treat pain that is caused by or related to the neuromusculoskeletal system (joint pain, muscle pain, stiffness, aches). A more detailed list of body areas responsive to our treatment can be found in the WHAT WE TREAT section. Problems we commonly see in our clinic include:
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We are the Recommended Osteopaths in London by: |