AT Health is a multi-disciplinary clinic offering osteopathy in Covent Garden. Here is a little more on what osteopathy is, and what you can expect on your first visit to AT Health.

Osteopathy is a holistic form of manual therapy that specialises in detecting, treating and preventing health problems via a range of different techniques such as massage, articulation and manipulations (high velocity thrusts).

One of the founding principles of osteopathy is that the body has its own medicine chest. When the bodies structure and function is compromised, so is its ability to heal, and an osteopath’s role is to try and put the body into a more optimal position so that it is capable of healing itself.

Osteopathy differs from other forms of complementary alternative medicine (CAM) by its preventative approach. When treating a patient, an osteopath will not only treat the site of pain, but will seek to find the cause for why the pain has arisen, therefore reducing the chances of the injury reoccurring. The cause of each complaint differs from person to person, ranging from biopsychosocial factors such as stress, work set up (ergonomics), posture, injuries incurred through trauma or perhaps a pathology such as asthma. Osteopaths are medically trained, with detailed knowledge of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry and pathology, and therefore have an ability to make a diagnosis and help with treatment, or, if needs be, refer on to a more suitable health care practitioner.