It is thought that nearly 17% of the population suffers from headaches that stem from upper neck dysfunction called Cervicogenic headache. This is commonly due to poor posture, injury or poor work or home ergonomics.

WHY DO HEADACHES OCCUR?

There are a number of reasons that headaches occur. In the case of Cervicogenic headaches, major nerves supplying the head enter the skull via the upper neck. When a neck dysfunction occurs, these nerves can become compromised therefore causing a headache.

WHAT CAN OSTEOPATHS DO?

Many forms of headache including Migraine, Cluster and Cervicogenic do not respond well to over the counter medications. In fact, often medications can be a cause of headache.
Osteopathy provides a drug free approach to the treatment of headaches. Osteopaths will use a variety of manual techniques to not only relieve the neck dysfunction causing the headache but will address the underlying factors contributing to the neck dysfunction. This holistic approach promotes long term relief as well as short term symptomatic relief.

During pregnancy your body produces large amount of “Relaxin” a hormone that allows increased laxity of ligaments to allow room for the growing baby. However, this can also lead to instability of the pelvis and place extra load on the body muscular system. These compensations can lead to pain and imbalance. Osteopaths aim at correcting resultant imbalances as well as strengthening surrounding structures to increase stability and decrease pain.
Osteopaths can help through all stages of pregnancy as well helping a future mother prepare her body in anticipation of pregnancy and also cope with post pregnancy aches and pains. An important part of preparation for any expecting mother planning on a natural birth is to make sure that the pelvis remains strong and balanced through the pregnancy. This will not only help decrease pain for the mother during pregnancy but also help ease the birth process

It is a common belief that arthritis is simply a part of getting old and so should be tolerated by the suffering individual. Left untreated arthritis can become disabling and alter one’s daily activities due to pain and restriction.
Commonly presenting to Osteopaths is osteoarthritis or degeneration of the skeleton. Osteoarthritis is the “wear and tear” of the joints of our body. The joints in our bodies are covered with cartilage which allows smooth movement of the joints. If the cartilage becomes compromised or gets worn away the joints become stiff and painful.
The development of degeneration in the skeleton can be accelerated by abnormal forces being placed on the body. These forces can come from: