Osteopathy Frequently Treated Conditions

The World Health Organisation recently reported that 4 per cent of adults have headache-related disorders with an estimated 190 million days lost from work in the EU alone because of migraine.

Migraine leaves 90 per cent of sufferers unable to perform even the most simple of tasks, disrupting work and family life. It’s also an emotional burden. Unless you’ve had one yourself, you can never understand what it’s like to experience a headache on this scale. Problems in the neck can often exacerbate these debilitating headaches.

The neck is key to other common headaches. Cervicogenic headaches (when pain specifically originates from the neck) often result from years of poor posture or postural strain from sitting at a desk. These headaches tend to present initially as pain around the ‘suboccipital region’, which is around the top of the neck and base of the skull. From here the headaches can be on one or both sides of the head, and commonly travel up towards the eyes, over the top or sides of the head. The headaches often appear on a daily basis, getting worse through the day or with sudden neck movements.

If you’re living with chronic headaches, get in touch and we can assess whether osteopathy is a viable treatment.

There are many types of shoulder pain. These include impingement or full/partial tears of the rotator cuff tendon, tendonitis, bursitis, and frozen shoulder (adhesive capsulitis). The most common we see are rotator cuff disorders. The rotator cuff is the group of muscles and tendons that surround the shoulder joint, keeping it in the correct position and allowing it to move in a controlled way.

Shoulder pain tends to be worse at night, during activities that involve your arm being above shoulder level – for example, when brushing your hair – or when you move your arm in an arc away from your body.

We also see repetitive strain injuries (RSI), which manifest themselves in pain, aches or tenderness in the shoulders that you notice when carrying out a particular repetitive action. Pain usually occurs on the front and side of your shoulder and may refer down towards the elbow. Without treatment, the symptoms of RSI may eventually become constant and cause longer periods of pain. You may also get swelling in the affected area, which can last for several months.

An accurate diagnosis for shoulder pain is important, so you should book an assessment if the discomfort persists or worsens. If it’s appropriate, we can refer patients directly for MRI or ultrasound scan.

Neck pain can radiate from the neck into the shoulders, arms or towards the shoulder blades. The discomfort can include a range of sensations – a dull ache, agonising shooting pains, tingling in the shoulders, arms and hands, as well as headaches, dizziness and nausea. Pain is often worse when turning or bending the neck, and sitting for long periods can also aggravate symptoms.

Neck pain is usually caused by posture-related muscular strain or inflammation of the small joints in your neck. However it can also be brought on by a number of other conditions such as damage to the discs, trapped nerves, ‘wear and tear’ that occurs in the joints of the neck (a type of arthritis called cervical spondylosis), and “whiplash”-type injuries that can be triggered by a sudden movement of the neck.

It’s always important to seek a professional assessment of your pain, particularly if it’s worsening or persistent. If your neck pain turns out to be musculoskeletal (the most common cause), it can be treated effectively with osteopathy.

Lower back pain is normally felt between the top of the buttocks and the lower rib cage and ranges from a mild dull ache to shooting or stabbing pain. It may be a result of a number of conditions, underlying issues (stomach or gynaecological problems, for example) and illnesses, but is usually due to musculoskeletal or ‘mechanical’ strain to the joints, muscles or nerves. Patients suffering from mechanical lower back pain will normally feel pain on movement and stiffness and restriction in movement, symptoms exacerbated by sitting for long periods or driving.

The treatment required depends on the cause of the lower back pain but, if it’s due to mechanical strain, osteopathy can make a huge difference. Get in touch and we will assess whether we can help with a course of treatment.

Sciatica is a description, rather than an actual diagnosis, and usually refers to pain radiating from the sciatic nerve, which runs from the lower back into the buttock, down the back of the leg and sometimes further. It is caused by the pinching or irritating of the sciatic nerve, most commonly from a herniated or ‘slipped’ disc, but also as a result of spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the passage where the spinal cord travels down the spine, and spondylolisthesis, which occurs when a vertebra slips forward and compresses the sciatic nerve. Sometimes the sciatic nerve can simply be reacting to inflammation in that area.

The symptoms can include any or all of the following: back pain on one side, pain in the buttock and the back of the leg, pain in the lower leg and into the foot, and tingling or numbness in the lower leg. There can sometimes be a burning pain in the lower leg and foot. Pain is often made worse by sitting or standing still for long periods of time. Usually leg or buttock pain is worse than the back and sometimes there can even be no back pain at all.

Assessing the cause is the first priority but, in most cases, your sciatic pain can be managed and improved with osteopathy, possibly complemented by lifestyle modifications.

Repetitive strain injury (RSI) is a general term used to describe the pain felt in muscles, nerves and tendons which is caused by repetitive movement and overuse. The term also covers a work-related upper limb disorder, or non-specific upper limb pain.

The condition mostly affects parts of the upper body, such as the hands, wrists, forearms, elbows, neck and shoulders. RSI pain can be anything from mild to severe and symptoms tend to develop gradually, rather than overnight. People complain of aching, throbbing or tenderness, as well as a tingling, numbing or cramping sensation.

At first, you might only notice symptoms when you’re carrying out a particular repetitive action. But without treatment, the symptoms of RSI may eventually become constant and cause longer periods of pain. You may also get swelling in the affected area, which can last for several months. If symptoms persist, book an initial assessment with us.

Sport injuries don’t necessarily occur exclusively in sport, but can result from any physical activity. They can impact many different areas on the body and a combination of different tissues, including muscles, tendons, bones or ligaments. The injuries sustained can include ankle sprains, tennis & golfers elbow, knee ligament/cartilage damage, groin strain, Achilles tendonitis, shin splints, labral tears and more.

Usually, sports injuries are a result of severe trauma. However, they can also be caused by inadequate training practices, faulty equipment, poor posture and not warming up or stretching adequately. You can also be predisposed to injury because of poor flexibility, or muscular weakness and fatigue.

Mechanical compensation can also cause sport injury. A good example is a golfer who is predisposed to a back injury because they have poor hip rotation. This lack of mobility will lead to altered force transference through the tissues of the body, resulting in the greatest amount of torque occurring in the lower back and placing inordinate strain on that area. By the same token, runners typically get Achilles tendon injuries because their calf muscles are too tight, or foot mechanics are poor.

Most sports injuries manifest themselves in limited movements and sharp pain in the affected area, although some might not be as apparent as others, or may only surface during sport and exercise (a mechanical compensation, for example).

Very often, patients experience long-standing niggles that they do nothing about. These issues go on to become something more significant and patients find they can no longer enjoy sport or a favourite exercise class. It’s far better to catch these problems early, before they become more serious. But whenever you seek treatment, osteopathy can make a significant difference.

As our patients have discovered, it not only reduces the pain of injuries, but improves performance and prevents further problems arising. Overall too it may be detrimental to your sports health in prolong the duration in which you are seen for any sports related injury.

Contact Hills Osteopaths for a qualified consultation today.