What can osteopathy help with?

One of the worst bits about an injury is the unknown, not knowing when you can go back to what you love and what can you do in the meantime, as when you have information you can start working with it. My job is to help you with this, diagnosing injuries, explaining options and demystifying the condition for you, and if needed working with any other professions from doctors to your personal trainer.

A great example was recently a patient had a supraspinatus tendon tear in the gym, painful in itself, but to make it worse he was on a great weight loss journey with an online coach and didn’t want to halt his progress. So I worked closely with his coach, popping his rehab into his workouts to disrupt his session and advised on exercise selection, what would be safer whilst considering the patients goals. This early on involved a lot of taking away to rest, but then it turned into incline dumbbell neutral bench presses for instance to give more space inside his shoulder whilst its recovering, focussing on chest flies for pec development instead to avoid as much shoulder extension.

Here is an in exhaustive list of what I can help with;

Low back pain, disc injuries, neck pain, headaches, shoulder dislocations, rotator cuff injuries, tennis elbow, golfers elbow, hip pain, labral tears, hip flexor pain, glute tendon pain, hamstring injuries, runners knee, ITB syndrome, patellar pain syndrome, ACL injuries, meniscus tears, ankle sprains, Achilles tendon injuries, calf tears, shin splints

My experience has ranged from NHS back pain and headache clinics all the way to Commonwealth Games for athletics, so I can help you with your pain. I like to give a lot of information and provide support away from sessions via email, even more so if you sign up to the online training you will have access to me whenever, wherever.

I can help you with osteopathic manual therapy, taping unstable joints and dry needling as required to help start with. I work close with a wonderful GP at the Clinica so if needed we work collaboratively on your pain management. Then I will always give you a home rehab plan, appropriate to you. This has ranged from a full running plan and calf rehab for a mountain marathoner, to some daily core work for a slipping rib patient.

Ciaran

Performance Coaching and you

A fancy term to encompass all aspects of health and well-being that contribute towards performance, this could range from being painfree, to sleep, nutrition and stress management. Performance is a highly individual term as it is dictated by your goals so I always work with you from where you are now to where you want to be, identifying the biggest, feasible wins. This sometimes involves getting other professionals involved to work as a team together to help you. When I was in Motorsport this went as far as hydration to managing laundry, not saying I will deal with your washing but it’s always about what helps you the most currently.

This level of coaching is suitable for those looking to make changes over the long term and need help doing so. Performance could look like training painfree, more energy to solve problems at work or even being able to run around after the kids, there is no right or wrong to this. I have helped busy a busy F1 AI director keep up his running whilst managing extensive travel and home duties, to a young dentist rehab from a shoulder injury whilst working and still training. Even introducing exercise to 40/50 year olds for the first time to help with their longevity and quality of life.

What is online rehab?

Thanks to the delights of Covid many health and fitness professionals turned to online services to help serve their patients, which for a traditionally face to face industry seemed impossible and something I initially couldn’t understand the benefit of. Patients ask how can you get a diagnosis and it is admittedly not always possible, however many conditions have some key features that are identifiable with accurate questioning, that if needs be can be supported by imaging or 1 in person session.

However since having kept trying I have seen the appeal in many cases, when people need guidance on a regular basis on what to do or how much to of but are comfortable with doing said exercise on their own. They find it reassuring having exercise from professional who understands their problems from a medical point of view and I love being able to take the rehab of a problem from start to end in a very progressive manner. In the elite sporting world this level of detail is common, usually working as part of team so multiple feed into one person’s plan.

In truth it is very similar to online personal training as I use an app, so you can track what you have been able to do, and as we know the key is gradually being able to do more than you did previously. You are able to ask me questions if something feels off allowing us to modify as you go, instead of having to wait until your next session. Using my experience in sport this could include cardiovascular training as well as gym based strengthening that could replace your normal routine.