I have just resumed Osteopathic treatment, and not before time! I have managed to sustain a series…read moreof minor injuries over the past six months that I have tried to ignore on the basis that they might go away. They haven't! They've actually got worse! Would you believe it?!?
I know that all of my afflictions will respond well to this treatment. Osteopaths train for about five years in total, and practice a non-invasive form of intervention that puts everything back in its rightful place without puncturing the skin, so there's no need for cortisone injections and the trauma of operations. The latter is the course of action that conventional medicine resorts to if the painkillers they prescribe don't mask the symptoms well enough. I reluctantly forked out for some Diclofenac, (also known as Voltarol amongst other things) and the accompanying ulcer-protective drug Lansoprazole, (also know as Misoprostol, Ranitidine or Omeprazole), and proceeded to suffer severe cramping accompanied by vomiting within a matter of days. Did you know that even the non-prescribed anti-inflammatory drug generically known as Ibuprofen, or as the branded Nurofen, is the most common cause of ulcer in the UK, and consequently comes with the advice to discontinue use after three days? I did, hence my reluctance to take a stronger version of it. However, I do on occasion take Ibuprofen as it is unquestionably the best anti-inflammatory that modern medicine has to offer, but I only do so occasionally after a hearty meal. But despite taking the same care with Diclofenac, as well as religiously taking the Lansoprazole, it took less than a week for my body to experience an extreme gut reaction that rendered the rest of me almost delirious.
There's an intelligence to prescribing something that reduces swelling. Swollen areas of the body denote trauma, and they also indicate that healing is not taking place. The body only starts healing when it moves out of the protection stage. Diclofenac is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) taken to reduce inflammation, and is therefore the logical choice of GP's prior to resorting to more invasive treatments like the Cortisone injections etc. (Besides which, I have been told by my GP that I will have to wear a brace for six months around my wrist before I can be considered for a referral for steroids. (She has completely neglected to register that I have tennis elbow, and so is not treating me for this, despite the fact I have been diagnosed with this condition by one of her colleagues, and have mentioned it at length on two separate occasions to her personally. As a matter of interest, I have been suffering with Tendonitis in my elbows, wrist and thumbs, with suspected RSI and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome for over six months. I purchased an arm brace well before it was recommended by any of the doctors at my surgery, and when I was finally offered an appointment with the nurse to get a splint, I took time out of my working day only to be told during the consultation that she doesn't perform splints very often, and that she didn't have the correct supplies, besides which, I would have to pay for them if she did).
I won't bore you with any more of the details in this protracted tale of unsatisfactory treatment. Instead I'd prefer to tell you the upshot of taking responsibility for my condition...
I am prone to overextending myself, and forcing my body to do more than is advisable for someone of my age. If this isn't bad enough, I subject my it to all manner of excessive use without even bothering to warm it up. Needless to say, it eventually objects! Following the advice of my Osteopath I have already learned in one session all of things to avoid, as well as the exercises and self-help treatments I can do to augment the work that she is doing. Wow! She has unblocked drainage systems in my back and elsewhere that will allow the fluids that create the inflammation to drain away from the affected sites, and has realigned the skeletal structure of the root cause of the problem. In my next visit, depending on how well I have responded to treatment thus far, she will edge closer to the most painful areas and remedy these also. I am already experiencing massive drug-free improvements, and am extremely grateful that some of the pain has subsided.
Osteopathy is worth every penny!
Wellfield Osteopathic Clinic also offer Cranial Osteopathy, which I will be getting at some stage in my treatment also.
