Tell me a story

When you come to see us at Dunelm Osteopaths we sit down and encourage you to tell us about your symptoms, your daily life, what's happening now, what happened in the past and what you would like for the future; ie your story. We're not being nosey, although curiosity is high on the list of what it takes to be an osteopath, but all of this information is necessary for safe and effective treatment.

Sometimes your job or hobbies/life situation will make an impact on your body and they may certainly affect the advise we give you, for example, there's not much point recommending parents of young children to avoid lifting. A compulsive exerciser may be advised to rest, an exercise avoider to move, but using exercises which can be done on the couch. Some conditions are age related, others not.

Pain and discomfort can be very frightening and yet sometimes just sitting down and talking with somebody allows you to approach the pain safely and start to get an understanding about what is happening. A discussion about how and when the pain started, what it feels like, when it's worse all start to allow us to try to find out what is happening to you. We will do a thorough examination but it helps if we've got an idea about what we're looking for.

We will ask you about your medical history. Sometimes this may influence our thoughts and treatment. Poor breathing patterns may affect the neck, ribs and diaphragm, all of which are musculo-skeletal structures which may exacerbate or even cause symptoms, irritable bowel is often associated with low back pain, past accidents may be influencing present symptoms. Cetain drugs can cause muscle pain and weakness, some illnesses also. Regrettably sometimes pain is due to other medical or more malign causes and will need referral to your GP. Our job as Osteopaths is to work out whether it is safe to treat you.

If we feel that we cannot help you osteopathically after the case history we will tell you and hopefully recommend what to do next but we will not charge you. At the end of the process we hope to have got to know you a little, and hope that you will feel comfortable with us.