Osteopathy, what is it?
Osteopathy is a gentle manual therapy that takes care of the patient’s entire body. It focuses on treating patients’ dysfunctional disorders in order to improve their overall optimal quality and quantity of movement. It has a curative as well as a preventive role allowing to anticipate pain due to a lack of mobility.
Who is it for?
Osteopathy is suitable for all types of patients from infants to the elderly. The manual techniques used are non-invasive and adapted to each patient.
BABIES
What are the benefits for baby at birth?
During childbirth (labor and delivery), the baby bears many stresses affecting its structure. The osteopath can intervene from the first weeks of life by making sure of his global mobility and by restoring the physiological amplitudes of his body. The babys mobility can be altered either by a natural childbirth or if equipment was used such as forceps, suction cups ..
When to consult for baby during the first year?
Baby’s first year of life is rich in learning in all areas. To ensure a healthy growth, the osteopath can help baby on several points:
Plagiocephaly
The various skull deformities that infants may experience are reducible by wearing a medical helmet but are also often improved and even completely dissipated by manual techniques to restore the mobility and elasticity of cranial sutures.
Colic
The immaturity of the baby’s digestive system is often the cause of colic that can be quickly relieved by gentle visceral osteopathic techniques throughout the baby’s digestive system.
Suction disorders
Sometimes, the baby may have difficulty feeding, leading to baby weight loss. Often, its difficulties are related to a sucking disorder resulting from various phenomena that can be stopped thanks to cranial, visceral or intraoral osteopathic manipulations.
Torticollis
During childbirth, it is common for infants to experience stress that causes musculoskeletal disorders such as newborn torticollis. The osteopath can treat these disorders in a gentle and non-invasive way.
Respiratory disorders
Respiratory disorders in babies or children are very uncomfortable and can be quickly reduced, depending on the disorder, by osteopathic techniques on the child’s rib cage and respiratory system.
Finally, regular consultation with an osteopath during the first year of life will help ensure baby’s healthy growth and help him learn the many tasks he will have to perform.
MOTHERS
What are the benefits for mom before childbirth?
During pregnancy, the mother’s body undergoes physical, hormonal and emotional changes. These changes create new stresses that the body is not used to dealing with. This can cause localized pain often in the lower triangle. Osteopathic techniques aim to restore mobility to joint, muscle and fascial structures in order to relieve pain and enable them to experience a peaceful and happy pregnancy and delivery.
What are the benefits for mom after childbirth?
Post partum, the structures of the pelvis (bone, ligament) are modified and regain a physiological movement thanks to time and especially thanks to pelvic floor rehabilitation. The Osteopath plays an important role in the return of mobility and physiological tonicity of the pelvis. Indeed, fascial, joint and muscle energy techniques help to restore and maintain normal body movements.
TMJ
The Temporo Mandibular Joint (TMJ) is a joint that connects the jaw and skull just in front of the ear. It is involved in many functions such as phonation, swallowing or the general posture of the body.
When this joint malfunctions, we can feel pain in the face or skull (loss of sensation, bruxism, malocclusion, headaches…) but also at a distance from the joint, especially in the neck or in our posture.
To manage these symptoms, the osteopath at Physio Avantage Plus will identify and test the disorders felt and treat them by considering all the aspects they involve: treatment of the skull, nervous, muscular and joint bones as well as working in collaboration with your dentist and/or family doctor if necessary.
SYMPTOMS RELATED TO THE EYES
Headaches
This is one of the most common symptom in patients with vision disorders. Osteopaths can manage these problems by using osteopathic cranial techniques on the face and base of the skull.
Cervical pain
Eye disorders lead to adaptations at the cervical level being the cause of pain. The osteopath can manage these symptoms through joint and muscle techniques.
Myopia/ Hypermetropia/ Astigmatism
The deformation of the eyeball involved in these pathologies can be relieved by treating the sutures and bones forming the orbit in order to limit the pressure on the eyeball in addition to medical treatments.
Strabismus
Osteopathic techniques of mobilization and local pressure on the bones of the orbit have an action on unilateral strabismus as an ocular muscle contraction disorder.
REFERENCES:
- Osteopathy and paediatrics: Two worlds linked by the child and his parents. S.Walzer, 2014
- Website of the French Union of Osteopaths (SFO) and Website of Osteopaths of France
- Palpatory diagnosis of plagiocephaly. N. Serguef, K. Nelson, T. Glonek – 2011
- Pediatrics Archive vol15: The role of Osteopathy in correcting cranial deformities in newborns and young children. C. Amiel-Tison, E. Soyez-Papiernik – 2008
