Upon arrival at our Erdington centre you will be greeted by one of our friendly receptionists. Please note we do not have reception at our Wylde Green centre.

Case history

To begin with we take a full account of both the complaint and your medical history. Please bring details of your family doctor and any medicines or food supplements you are taking. If you have X-Rays or MRI scans these may also be helpful.

Examination

You may be asked to remove some clothing. If the problem is in the hip or thigh area it may help if you bring some loose clothing like shorts or an underskirt.

The osteopathic examination usually starts with assessment of posture and active movement. These are observed in both standing and sitting positions.

A palpatory (hands-on) osteopathic exam and any medical tests follow. Passive movement is an area in which osteopaths specialise. We are trained to move each joint in the body with our hands so that every normal direction of motion is assessed for abnormal limitation. At the same time we will report if we believe a bone to be out of it`s normal alignment. Specific muscle-testing is often used to identify where a joint or group of joints are not supported fully by the muscles acting across it. See Applied Kinesiology for more information about muscle-testing.

Treatment

Osteopathic treatment is given, after which you may need to sit and rest in reception with a drink of water before leaving.

In most cases osteopathic treatment is relaxing and all ages, including babies, may feel more tired for 24-72 hours afterwards as the body works to heal itself.

Advice

The osteopath will discuss the management of your condition with you and may prescribe nutrition or supply diet or exercise information sheets. Nutritional and dietary advice is a major part of the care which we provide, being especially important at times like puberty, pregnancy, the menopause and other periods of great stress or change.

Who can benefit?

Osteopaths treat people of all ages from early infancy to over 90.

Caring for your body is essential at every stage of life and in whatever state of health.

Infants and young children, older children and teenagers, adults and the elderly, people with disabilities, special needs or chronic illness may equally choose to consult an osteopath.

Many people have been attending the practice for over 20 years and contact us whenever they feel they need our care.