Can osteopathy play a role in preventative care?

Preventative care is key to long-term health and wellbeing. 

A healthy lifestyle made up of regular exercise, well-rounded nutrition, social connection and a good sleep routine greatly increases our chance of staying free from illness and injury.

Skin checks, blood tests, screening tools and other forms of medical testing can be used to identify potential pathologies well before obvious symptoms arise.

But can services such as massage, acupuncture and osteopathy be included in a preventative health care routine? 

Many of our clients enjoy booking in for regular treatment sessions. They often refer to these as ‘maintenance appointments’ or ‘coming in for a tune-up’.

For a while, we were resistant to the idea of ‘maintenance treatments’ in osteopathy.

Our rationale was that if a client wasn’t experiencing any symptoms, then there can’t be anything too wrong. And if there wasn’t anything too wrong, what was the benefit of providing treatment if it wasn’t highly valuable for our clients?

Over time, our thinking has changed on this, as our treatment philosophy, experience and expertise has grown and evolved.

Our treatment philosophy for clients

Generally, clients book in to see us for treatment because they are experiencing pain, sensory disturbances (numbness, dizziness, tingling, etc.) or movement abnormality (such as stiffness, tightness, weakness or instability).

Our first task is to establish the precise nature of what the client is experiencing, how it is impacting them, and what their goals and expectations are.

Osteopathy is a service that includes a range of techniques: once a diagnosis is established, we develop a pathway for recovery, which could include rest, manual therapies, self-treatment strategies and exercise intervention. 

Education and exercise are the foundation of physical therapy intervention, though manual therapies make up a significant part of our treatment focus as they improve patient comfort, reduce pain, and promote safe and efficient movement (manual therapies are also our clients’ favourite part of a consultation!)

We take an evidence-informed approach to recovery, which means we explain to patients the interventions that are strongly evidence-supported and interventions we find generate the best results, while also appreciating clients’ feedback on what’s working best for them.

This is referred to as a biopsychosocial model, which means that an individual’s condition is not simply determined by biological factors, but also psychological and social factors.

Considering treatment from a biopsychosocial perspective is especially important for clients suffering with chronic conditions.

Each treatment is a case-by-case approach, meaning that the combination and frequency of the interventions offered changes from patient-to-patient and condition-to-condition.

Why we changed our thinking on preventative care

While most clients come to us with acute or chronic symptoms of pain or injury, some clients are asymptomatic.

Historically, we have been sceptical of ‘maintenance treatments’ and their place in osteopathy.

As mentioned above, we believed that if a client was asymptomatic, there can’t be much wrong. And if there isn’t anything wrong, then treatment isn’t highly valuable.

However, as our treatment philosophy, experience and expertise has evolved over time, we believe that preventative care in regard to osteopathy can be highly valuable for clients.

Some reasons for this are:

Clients enjoy hands-on treatment

Many clients enjoy hands-on treatment irrespective of if they are in pain or not, and if they leave our clinic feeling good and more mobile, there is no reason to discourage performing treatment on a regular basis.

The value of education

A large part of the value in a consultation is the education provided. Periodic treatment sessions allow the opportunity for an ongoing conversation and education around a client’s health and wellbeing.

Self-care is important

Planned treatment sessions are a way for clients to form some structure around self-care. If they have cyclical engagement with a healthcare professional, this may give them confidence and motivation to continue looking after their health in other ways.

Identifying issues before they become problems

There are assessments that can be performed that highlight if there are movement limitations or asymmetries. Even if we are not treating a specific condition any longer, we can monitor for regressions in strength, range of motion or function.

Maintaining an optimal state

Even if a client is pain-free, their body may not be in an optimal state. Regular treatments help to identify margins for improvement in function i.e. improved quality of motion, improved range, increased strength and stability.

Conclusion

It is important that clients don’t buy into the notion that without preventative care sessions, their body will gradually fall apart. This is not the case.

If you generally feel good, treatment only when pain or injury arises is a solid approach to recovery.

But, we do see many of our clients experience great satisfaction in periodically seeing us for treatments, regardless of if they are experiencing pain/injury or not.

These clients love how they feel after a treatment and often enjoy asking questions about what’s happening in their body and how to look after it.

A pain-free individual can receive hands-on treatment while also undergoing movement screening, discussing lifestyle factors that impact their health, and reviewing their current exercise regime to see if any adjustments should be made.