The Promotional of Osteopathy in the UK
May 24, 2008
A patient asked me the other day (this is one who came to me for lower back ache and now I have treated his tennis elbow and his migraines)
Why is osteopathy not widely known in the UK for its approach to health, I could have saved myself a lot of time and drugs, if I had known!…………….
Well, in my opinion (and remember that’s all it is) there are a few fundamentals with answering a question of this magnitude.
- The fact that osteopathy has always been in the private health care sector. (apart from a few NHS contracts). This effectively limits the market. Personally regarding the NHS, if osteopathy was apart of it, we may lose our identity altogether. Trying to fit a natural health care system into a “pharmaceutical prescribing system” – seems to me like fitting a round peg into a square hole.
- The lack of focus from the profession. Osteopaths are renown for their different interests and opinions (this makes osteopathy what it is by-the-way!) which does mean there has been constant “in-house” discussions for years from the difference camps (cranial, structural). If only the energy had been focused on promoting the profession.
- The lack of definition of osteopathy and an osteopath. This has be a concern for sometime, however, the more I delve into this discussion the more unimportant this becomes. The public are really not interested in what an osteopath is, but more how they can help them and this is where the focus on promotion should be.
- No focused promotional drive. I’ve really got to be careful what I say here, as I believe the associations have made great achievements in shaping the profession. However, I feel the networking with other professions and promotion has been a bit of a struggle. I realise that the above points don’t help this is but the profession requires proactive stance not a reactive one.
- The lack of proactive practitioners. Many osteopaths once qualified, focus purely on building their own practice and quite frankly I don’t blame them as it’s damn hard work. However, if we there were more practitioners who were passionate about the profession as a whole then I’m sure there would have been further developments on the promotional front.
…………Well after that rant and 1 hour later I finally let the patient go……..he hasn’t asked me a question since.
osteopathsguide
winiosteo
June 9, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Thanks for the information on osteopathy.
We recently wrote an article on osteopathy at Brain Blogger. Osteopathy today- is it unique or has it conformed? Medicate to heal or allow the body to use its own natural healing ability? It’s an interesting debate. What do you think?.
We would like to read your comments on our article. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Kelly
June 18, 2008 at 8:39 am
Interesting article. As a UK osteopath, we are trained separate from the medical schools. I believe this training allows the focus to be on osteopathic principles and understanding. I can’t get my head around osteopaths training through the medical schools. It’s two completely different models at work.
True osteopathy is the understanding that you are treating the cause not the symptoms. A problem doesn’t just appear, there is a chain of physiological events prior to the problem (unless it is a trauma). It is the unravelling of these events that a true osteopath is interested in. Supplying medication to “suppress” a symptom is as you mentioned in the article a complete contradiction of this principle.
Osteopathy is really a preventive medicine; however, our society doesn’t really fit with this. No-one goes for a check up on a regular basis; they wait until there’s a problem and then consult someone. When it gets to this stage then all forms of medicine have their place. Perhaps if more people went to their osteopath for a check up – these problems that require further intervention may never be needed (bold statement I know!). After all we service our cars more regularly than our bodies – what’s more important?