By Danny Williams
My mother introduced me to Osteopathy. I had no idea what it was. She was a part of a Homeopathy group and realised the potential of ‘alternative health’. It sounded like a kind of medicine and because I was always pulling things apart and looking for the cause, not the effect, I decided to dig deeper.
I realised I was on the right path when I discovered Osteopathy is about looking for the cause; in other words, treating people and not the condition. Asking questions such as “Why is something happening to my body?”, “How can I do something about it?” “Where is it coming from?” and “What or which came first?”
In the 1800s Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of Osteopathy lost his wife and three children to meningitis and was so angered with the medical profession that he went in search of an alternative. Realising the innate healing capacity of the human body, Taylor Still studied the structure of the human body in detail, and in 1874 created a new science which he named Osteopathy. This newly created practice began by treating all sorts of illnesses and diseases and not just musculoskeletal pain.
Fast forward to 2023 and, of course, mainstream allopathic medicine has advanced since that time to a greater understanding of the body treatment with the ‘panacea’. I was brought up where taking paracetamol was unheard of and the doctor was only called if the patient was bed bound. In my childhood home, it was common to allow the body to rest and heal itself. And so, I suppose, Osteopathy has always been a part of my life. We have come a long way since 1874 and now Osteopathy works alongside medicine to treat, support, and manage patients’ needs.
From the moment we are born (depending on the type of delivery), or even before that, our genetics and how we lay in the womb all dictate our structure. Throughout early childhood and teenage development how we hold ourselves against gravity, what exercise we do and even what we eat to the point where our growth plates fuse also determines our structure. With these compensations already set in, the habits arrive, and we get physically stuck in our ways. These compensations can ultimately affect our function and physiology causing all sorts or sprains and strains, aches and pains.
Ben a four-month-old baby came to see me after eventually being delivered by Emergency C-section and a very long protracted labour that didn’t progress. The baby was reported to be head down for around seven months and then lifted out through the abdominal wall. One problem that can occur when this happens is that if the baby does get extended and lengthened as they come through the birth canal, their bodies maintain their banana shape as if in utero which can in turn lead to a lack of spinal movement and in Ben’s case the inability to turn his head to the right. After two very gentle Osteopathic treatments weekly, then another after two weeks, Ben was able to fully rotate his head.
Joan a 46-year-old mother, was making her son’s bed one day, flicked the doona and got stuck and was in acute pain in her lower back. She described it as the worst pain she has felt since childbirth. After documenting her history and ruling out red flags, I examined her active and passive movements. I noted she had an inflamed facet joint in her lower back due to her natural hypermobile body. After 10 days and three treatments, she was 95% improved. Key to her continued healing was working on the strength of her trunk, so it wouldn’t happen again. I saw her monthly for six months while she built on her core strength and noted she has had no back problems since.
From babies that have torticollis (twisted neck) from birth trauma to reflux or colic, to the times when we don’t feel ‘straight’ or ‘wonky’ or can’t move our neck, even when we have a headache, feel tight or have unexplained pain, these are the times when Osteopathy may help.
Osteopathy helps find the body’s ‘normal’ by stimulating the body’s healing systems to help improve and promote self-healing mechanisms. In effect being a catalyst for the body to boost its own responses. Pain and problems arise as symptoms, made up of all the predisposing factors that the body holds, the chronology of life events (from emotional to physical trauma). Osteopathy puts the structure of the body back together in a way that the function can work as optimally as possible. If you feel physically good, you feel emotionally good most of the time. It really can be a case of mind over matter.
For example, with lower back pain, Osteopathy improves the spinal movement by draining the inflammation, improving the nutrition to the area, and stabilising the joints. This allows the body to move as best it can whilst allowing health to restore. In another example, when a baby has reflux, it could be caused by a compressed nerve at the base of the skull or a strain pattern that needs to be gently unwound. There are many different moving parts that need to be addressed to bring the body back to ‘normal.’
How does Osteopathy do this? Osteopathy uses a series of hands-on techniques from very gentle cranial techniques that are used on children and more sensitive bodies to visceral and functional techniques treating the myofascia, to cracking and articulation of the joints. The Osteopath determines which techniques work with what body type and uses them accordingly. Osteopathy doesn’t have to be a one-off. It treats acute and chronic pain but can be used as maintenance to make sure you are always functioning at your optimum.
No matter how old or young you are, Osteopathy may help the newborn to the great-great grandmother adapt to find health and be the most functional and healthy that they can be. With a little helping hand.
Danny is an expat Brit osteopath, now based in South Yarra. ‘Curious by Nature’ founder, ‘Super Soups’ author and media spokesperson for health and wellbeing related to osteopathy.