It’s Time to Overcome Your Pain

The practice is located on the top floor of The Village Centre in Kennington, Oxford. There is free parking in the village car park next to Kennington Health Centre, alternatively, there is parking opposite in The Tandem pub car park. If you have trouble with stairs, please advise us before whilst booking, so that we can organise the stair lift for you.  Anybody is able to bring a friend or relative with them to their appointment, however under 16’s must always be accompanied by an adult.  Please knock on the first door on your left and take a seat on the chairs outside, Sophie or one of the team will be with you as soon as they can.

During your booking, you should be advised that you will be asked to bring a pair of small shorts with you to change into or alternately just some comfortable underwear. It would be helpful if you could bring and any necessary prescription notes listing your medication and any x-rays/ scan results that relate to the issue you are presenting with.  Please arrive at least 5 minutes before your appointment time as you will be asked to fill in a health questionnaire and contact details once you have been called in for your appointment. All Osteopathy appointments are 45 minutes long.

Before we are able to examine or treat you, you will be asked some questions about yourself, your past medical history and your presenting condition. The questions are detailed and questions such as; what makes the pain worse, better and when did it start. You may feel that some of the questions seem unnecessary and unrelated, however all this information is important and helps us to gain an over all picture of you, which helps to make a diagnosis and develop a treatment plan . Everything which is mentioned and written down during your sessions are completely confidential and will not be released without your written consent.

The next step is examination.  So that we can perform a thorough examination we usually ask you to undress down to your underwear. Osteopaths don’t just treat your symptoms, we try to find the route cause of your problem, therefore this isn’t always located where you present with pain. Being able to see the whole body helps us to diagnose your underlying dysfunction. You will be asked to perform certain movements and we may do further testing such as reflexes and blood pressure to help us to understand your complaint. When we have finished examination we will discuss our  findings with you and in most cases some treatment will be given, details on osteopathic treatment can be found below.

At the end of your first appointment you will be advised of your diagnosis, treatment plan and any exercises that you need to carry out and your next appointment will be booked. At the practice we don’t like to issue you with a set treatment plan stating how many treatments you will require. The amount of treatments you will need and at what internals will be determined by you and by what you would like to achieve from your treatment, what we find on examination and then how quickly your body responds to treatment.

Because osteopathy is a manual therapy and we are aiming at encouraging the body to move differently you can sometimes experience some aching or stiffness post treatment. This is completely normal, however if you ever think that something isn’t normal, please don’t hesitate to give us a call and we will talk you through any worries that you may have. Advice may be given to you to support the treatment. Prevention may also be discussed relating to posture and lifestyle.  We work alongside GP’s where possible and if we believe that they should be given information about your health. Again, your consent must be given before we can contact your GP.  Likewise, if we do not believe that you will benefit from osteopathy treatment we will explain why to you and where possible refer you to somebody who we think will be able to help you.