Often when we go to the osteopath, questions arise, in this section we will try to solve some doubts. Anyway, if you have any more specific questions, you can send it to us through the Contact form, we will be happy to answer.
What is osteopathy?
Osteopathy is the traditional alternative medicine that is responsible for treating the mobility dysfunctions of the tissues of the human body, which cause disorders and disturb the state of health of the body.
What characterizes the human body is the movement and what characterizes the state of health is the balance in these movements.
Osteopathic medicine aims to restore the disturbed balances at all functional levels of the human body. Restore the necessary mobilities in the life of a man in good health.
It is therefore placed in the context of prevention and health conservation. Based on the anatomy and physiology of the body, osteopathy is both an art, a science and a technique. It is a only manual medicine, and a philosophy due to the importance of the conscience of the individual of his body, different in some points from allopathic medicine, but obvious complementary and interactive with that patient who wants to be cured.
Osteopathic medicine has widely demonstrated its efficacy in many clinical studies.
What can osteopathy treat?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), osteopathy treats:
- Spinal conditions: Cervicalgia, dorsalgia, low back pain, osteoarthritis, torticollis, post-accident cervical whiplash.
- Discal problems: protrusions or disc hernias, degenerative problems, sciatica, brachialgia.
- Conditions of the ligaments or non-neurological muscles, tendinitis, contractures, sprain, etc.
- Peripheral joint conditions: Discomfort in the arms, shoulders, wrists, knees, ankles, feet, hips, jaw.
- Respiratory disorders: bronchitis, bronchiolitis, asthma, pneumonia, oral breathing.
- Digestive disorders: heartburn, flatulence, reflux, hiatus hernia, constipation.
- Uro-gynecological disorders: urinary incontinence, irregular or painful menses, amenorrhea, problems during pregnancy, uterine malpositions, recurrent cystitis.
- Temporomandibular Joint Disorders (TMJ): Noises, subluxations, joint pains, bruxism.
- Migraines and headaches
- Cranial or facial compressions for labor with forceps or suction cups
- Otitis, sinusitis
- Vertigos
- Neuralgia: Arnold, trigeminal, tingling in the hands or feet.
- Postural disorders in children: Genu var, genu valgus, scoliotic attitudes.
- Behavior disorders in children: restlessness, sleep disorder.
- Digestive disorders in children: infant colic, constipation, suction problems.
- occlusion problems in children.
- disorders derived from sports practice.
Is the treatment painful?
Osteopathic treatment in the adult should not be painful, perhaps there is some technique that may be a bit uncomfortable, but they are few.
In children, treatment is not painful, since milder techniques are used.
How to go dressed to the osteopath's office?
In the osteopathy consultation you have to wear comfortable clothes and without jewelry, you can wear sweatpants underneath, or tights, but it is possible that to make a diagnosis and possibly for treatment, the professional will ask you to stay in underwear. In any case, there are treatments that can be carried out with comfortable clothes on.
Should I have an X-ray and/or imaging tests?
Yes, do not forget the reports of radiologists, more tests are better, more information is better, they are very important to us to know if there are contraindications because it is treated in the best way.
What effects can I have after a session?
After osteopathic treatment you may:
- You feel more tired.
- Headache appears.
- If you were gesturing a cold, it may come out.
- even increase symptoms during the first few hours.
- Digestive alterations may appear (acceleration or slowdown of stools).
- abdominal pains.
- alteration of the menstrual cycle.
- appearance of referred pains or old discomfort.
- This is part of the self-healing of our own body.
Is the osteopath a doctor?
The osteopath does not have to have a medical career, he is a professional who has trained in the osteopathy discipline.
We must always take into account the opinion of the doctor, and if we do not like it, we must go to another doctor to have another opinion.
Currently, in Spanish territory, the doctor is the only legal authority in health matters.
In addition, in Spain, there is no formative regulation of this profession, physiotherapists are the only manual professionals authorized by medical authorities in Spain, but in France, for example, osteopathy is a public service that is within Social Security.
In any case, make sure that the professional you go to has a good academic training, who guarantees their experience and capacity.
Should I go through a medical visit before the osteopathic session?
The osteopath is formed to know and be able to give an osteopathic diagnosis through various tests and tests to define the injuries and treat them according to the needs of each person. Therefore, a medical visit is not necessary to be able to treat you.
In any case, if the therapist sees it appropriate, depending on the result of the observations, the patient will be referred to the consultation of his doctor, to do complementary tests, to consult the opinion of a specialist doctor or even to the emergency room.
How many sessions and how often?
Each patient and each lesion is different, so you have to make a first visit to determine what treatment each patient will need individually and depending on the evolution they will adapt the treatment.
When you have an injury that has been giving the can for years, we cannot expect that with a session it will be completely resolved, we are talking about a chronic injury in medical language, and these injuries require a little patience from us.
When the patient is in periods of acute pain, the sessions will be more frequent. Maintenance osteopathic treatments can be quarterly or semi-annual.
If it doesn't hurt anymore, is it better to cancel the appointment?
The osteopath can help you both when you have a problem, and in the prevention of this, when we have pain, the problem is already talking, the fact of not having bad does not mean that it cannot be gestating something, the professional will help us to maintain and preserve health.
Who is OSTCAT for?
They can be part of the association: doctors, osteopaths, physiotherapists or students from other disciplines who have an interest in the subjects.
The association has two modalities:
- Professional: The one who accredits osteopathy studies and meets the training criteria that demonstrates skills.
- Student: The one who does not yet have the training criteria, but acquires the commitment to reach the European standards to Osteòpates de Catalunya within a period of 5 years.
At the time of the training, those areas will be validated that the partner demonstrates that he has already passed, the competent body will be in charge of deciding it.
If within this period the objectives are not achieved, it will be canceled. To re-register, the application for admission must be submitted again.