Even if you’re visiting your osteopath once a week, that appointment only accounts for 0.3% of your time that week. Self management is important to keep your progress going in the other 99.7% of the time.
Exercises
We often give a selection of exercises at the first appointment, and may change them as your condition improves over time. These exercises are tailored to you, and may be modified versions of more familiar exercises that can have a better effect if done in this unusual way.
Stretching
Stretching is good for tight muscles, but sometimes targeting the exact right muscles is difficult to do. We will show you how to do the exercise in clinic, and usually ask you to repeat it so we can check that you’re doing it right. This also helps you to remember the details of it, and to understand what you’re meant to be feeling.
Strengthening
Strength training serves a purpose for a number of problems. If a joint is hypermobile, strengthening the muscles around it can give it the support it needs without relying on a lax ligament. If there is an imbalance between a muscle group and its antagonistic pair, strengthening the weak one can improve the demands on the joint itself.
Strengthening does not always mean lifting weights; we can start small with a milk bottle or light resistance band and build up as appropriate.
Heat and Ice
Heat and ice can both be relieving, but the more appropriate one will depend on your exact presentation. Heat is good for tight muscles, and ice can reduce inflammation- although in a lot of cases there is both muscle tension and inflammation. As heat can make inflammation worse, we might ask you to try ice before trying heat to avoid aggravating your symptoms.
Sometimes it can be useful to alternate the two, one after the other. Your osteopath will advise if this is appropriate, and whether they want you to use a warm and cool compress or warm and cool water. In either case, we won’t want you to jump immediately from something very warm to something icy cold, as it might make things worse when the variation is too extreme. Contrast bathing can help to encourage inflammation to move along and refresh, which brings new nutrients to the area and removes old waste.
Lifestyle Changes
Often there are lifestyle factors in your aches and pains. These might include the way you sit at your desk or in the car, or maybe the position in which you sleep. Desk positioning in particular can make a big difference, and one size does not fit all when it comes to working out your best position. We can take into account your aches and pains, alongside the kind of desk and chair you already have to try and relieve the strain associated with sitting at your computer.
Occasionally, it might also be worth looking at your diet. Sometimes a dietary deficiency can be associated with pain. In some cases it might be most appropriate to refer you on to a dietician or nutritionist, or back to your GP if blood tests are likely to show something relevant.
Click here to make an appointment for your aches and pains in Devizes or Pewsey
