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Your First Visit to Romford Osteopaths

Consulting an Osteopath is similar to any other hospital type appointment. Your osteopath will spend some time asking you questions and listening to you describe your problem. There will be an enquiry into your general heath. This is followed by an examination of the parts causing the trouble and probably a wider ranging examination of other areas too.

Once this is finished the Osteopath will be able to tell you what they think is wrong. They will discuss the treatment options with you.

 

The case history interview.

This will take 10 to 20 minuets depending on the complexity of your medical history. You can download a questionnaire here to fill in and bring with you. This will make sure that you don't miss out any information. Don't feel that you must do this, as the osteopath will go through everything with you.

 

Examination and Modesty

Osteopathy relies on the accurate observation and assessment of the whole human frame. As such, depending on the location of the problem, patients are usually asked to undress to their underwear to permit this observation particularly during the initial assessment visit. We will take care to only ask you to disrobe as far as necessary to permit the treatment to proceed. Some patients bring shorts or their largest underwear to the treatment.

As far as possible your osteopath will use towels to cover you up during the treatment. Gowns are also available. If you require a chaperone we would ask that you either bring someone with you or call in advance so we can ensure that someone is available. We have both male and female practitioners. It is our priority to make you feel as comfortable as possible. If you feel at all ill at ease with the extent to which you are asked to undress, or any aspect of the treatment or examination please let us know. We will always respect a request for modesty and can provide either a gown, or work within your personal preference. Should you feel more comfortable in the presence of a friend or relative, this is also possible.

The examination

The examination will test your active movements with you standing or sitting whilst the osteopath watches your movements. This tells the osteopath what movement affect the pain. Osteopaths are also skilled at observation of movement and can spot changes from the normal pattern and differences from one side to the other. All this information helps to tell what is wrong.

The osteopath will then probably ask you to sit or lay on the treatment table and to relax your muscles. We are very used to dealing with people in considerable pain and full account will be take of this during the examination. The osteopath will then use special techniques to move individual joints to test them for pain, rand and quality of movement.

Special Tests

It is likely that you will need one or more special tests. Often these will be of your nervous system, as nerves are often affected by joint problems. Your reflexes and sensation ability may be checked. Osteopaths are able to use a lot of diagnostic tests similar to you own doctor. Much of the examination will feel very familiar.

X-Rays and MRI Scans

In some cases it is better to ask for images such as X-Rays or Scans before or whilst treating you. Your osteopath will discuss this with you. Only images that help with a clinical decision are used. We do not need to routinely make images of all patients. This is not a necessary part of modern manual therapy practice.

Treatment Options

Once we have all the information the osteopath will discuss with you the likely cause or causes of the problem. This may well fall into two parts. The immediate thing causing your pain, for example a muscle strain, and also the reason why the osteopath believes you have got in the condition your in, for example work practice or postural issues.

Before treatment can begin the Osteopath must present options for your treatment and discuss all aspects of the treatment with you including the risks and benefits. Once this is done and you can choose to agree to have treatment or if you prefer choose to be referred elsewhere or just take some advice on self management.

If you would like to talk to a helpful and knowledgeable person about any of this then please call our friendly reception team on 01708 702200 or call and ask to speak to one of the osteopaths.

 

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