Back Pain

Symptoms and Conditions

• Sciatica
• Facet irritation
• Spondylosis
• Arthritis
• Degenerative disc disease
• Slipped discs
• Trapped nerves
• Bulging disc
• Herniated disc
• General, non-specific back pain

What could be behind my back pain?

Back pain is one of the most common ailments reported to GPs, with 2.8 million days of work lost in 2013/2014 reportedly due to problems with the back (Health and Safety Executive, 2014). The symptoms of back pain can be severe and quite frightening but the good news is that it is rarely serious and is likely to resolve after a few weeks.

There are lots of different causes of back pain, including: sprains or strains to the muscles or ligaments supporting the back, injury to the discs of the back and injury to the individual joints of the spine. The back may also be uncomfortable as a result of compensation for an injury elsewhere, for example pain in the hip may lead to an imbalanced use of your back muscles. This can result in overuse of some muscles and result in pain.

Osteopathy is well known as an effective treatment for back pain and is recommended in the NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines as a way to get relief.

How Osteopathy can help

Osteopathic treatment is specific to you as an individual. It aims to deal with the origin of your pain rather than just covering up the symptoms.

After an initial consultation to determine the root cause of your problem, we use a variety of techniques that aim to resolve the initial cause and to tackle any other factors that may be causing your symptoms.

What is involved 

Treatment involves manipulation, massage and articulation (gentle movement) of the joints to release restrictions, to  decrease excessive muscular tightness or spasm and to encourage good movement and function of the joints involved. This promotes the healing and health of the problematic area by ensuring adequate blood supply, drainage and movement.

Session Length

An initial consultation is up to an hour and twenty minutes – shorter if the condition is not too complicated. Treatment sessions are 30 – 40 minutes per session.

Treatment Length

The average number of treatments with an osteopath is between 3-5, however it does very much depend upon the person and the problem they have. For example if you have to keep doing something in work that sets off your issue, you may need more sessions.