Osteopaths at West Country Osteopaths are happy to help patients with any treatment listed above.

Fibromyalgia

Acute joint pain is often associated with fibromyalgia which is a disease of the central nervous system where normal, non-painful, neural messages are interpreted by the nerve receptors as pain. This leads to intense localised pain where there should be none. The symptoms of fibromyalgia include headaches, sleeping difficulties, poor concentration, stiff muscles and enervating tiredness. Some patients suffer occasional attacks allowing them to lead fairly normal lives. However, for chronic sufferers, this disease can gravely affect quality of life. There is no single cure, however much research is being done into various therapies to help ameliorate the disability associated with the condition. Osteopathic treatment is, of course, often used to treat the associated muscle pain and many practitioners combine this wiith acupressure or acupuncture to further relieve muscular pain.

Sucking Difficulty

A baby having difficulty feeding may be suffering from a nerve compression. Cranial osteopaths would be quick to look at the area at the base of the skull to determine if the nerve was affected. From an osteopathic perspective, a child that has or had difficulty latching-on to its mother's nipple during the first few weeks after birth is a potential indicator that there may be some compression of an important nerve that controls the tongue. Whilst the sucking problem may clear up after a few days or weeks, the issue of compression of the hypoglossal nerve - or indeed other nerves - may not actually be resolved fully in the intial period after birth. A detailed patient history for a child should certainly cover this issue even if the condition for which treatment is being sought is rather different.