What to expect

Many people tell us that they didn't know what to expect when they booked their appointment, we hope that this section will answer some of your questions.

On your first visit you will see Tom or Nina, you can book with either of us and you will know beforehand who your appointment is with.

At the beginning of the appointment we will take a detailed case history, we will ask about your symptoms, what brought you to see us, your past and current medical conditions.

After the case history we might ask you to do some movements so that we can assess the range and quality of motion in your joints and soft tissues and look at your general postural pattern. This all helps us to make a diagnosis as to what is causing your discomfort and to judge whether it is safe for us to use particular osteopathic techiques with you, and if osteopathic treatment is appropriate for you. We are interested in what has worked for you previously and whether you have treatment preferences.

You may be asked to remove some items of clothing, this is so that we both see the area we need to treat and work on it more easily. During treatment we always use a towel to cover you for comfort, we also have a gown if you prefer, you are of course welcome to wear shorts if you would like to. If you have any worries about this please talk to us about your concerns.

Osteopathic treatment itself can vary widely from osteopath to osteopath, but will always involve a hands on approach. We have a wide variety of different techniques that we use, at Birch House we will most likely use some of the following techniques:

• Massage (soft tissue work into your muscles)
• Stretching
• Articulation (we move your joints through their range of motion)
• Muscle energy techniques (used to lengthen tight and contracted muscles)
• Counterstrain (this releases tight muscles by positioning the muscle in a shortened position to stretch the opposing muscles)
• Manipulations or adjustments (this is the one where you sometimes hear a click, it is a short quick movement we use to improve the range of motion in a joint)
• Functional techniques (gentle mobilisation of joints).

 You should let us know immediately, even during the treatment if you would like us to change or stop what we are doing or to discuss the treatment we are giving you. Like any form of therapy or treatment occasional unwanted reactions might occur. These usually don't last long , but as with any concerns you might have please talk to us about is happening.

We may organise a follow up appointment and might give you some stretches and exercises to do at home to help speed up your recovery or improve your body's function. We might be able to give you advice about suitable physical activity or things that will help during your recovery period.

The number of tretments needed depends on how long you have had the problem, how severe it is, and how your body responds to treatment. On average people have between 3-6 sessions for good results, however you may only need 1 or 2 visits. One of our main ethos here at Birch house is that we only ever see a patient for the number of times it takes to get them better, we don't believe in bulk bookings.

If you have any other questions, please do give us a call.