TOC

Osteopaths at TOC see patients with many different conditions, two of the more common complaints are discussed below

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.

Learning Disorders

Learning disorders are similar to the issues surrounding delayed development in that they are often misdiagnosed as a child being less able than others. In fact the problems the child is having with learning may have a very simple physical explanation which can be treated successfully and with fairly rapid impromement. The cause of the syndrome may be congenital, but in many cases the cause may simply be a physical neurological issue which will benefit from cranial osteopathy. Gentle treatment to unblock a neural pathway may yield substantial benefit - although clearly not in all cases. The typical course of treatment would be 6 to 8 sessions.