“Can an Osteopath help relieve my arthritis?”
I suffer from painful arthritis in my hand joints and a friend recommended osteopathic manipulative medicine as an additional relief to the meds I take. What exactly is this type of treatment? What happens and how does it help?
2 Answers
Yes! Often times a joint will feel much better with osteopathic treatment. Osteopathy helps remove restrictions and dysfunctional patterns in the body, and specifically with arthritis can help open up the area, and therefore allow the inflammation to leave the joint area.
Osteopathic treatments reduce the overall neuromusculoskeltal tension in the body. This helps muscles relax and function better, which will reduce compression on joints and help them move more freely. Treatments vary between practitioners, and can include both direct treatments involving more movement and force like chiropractic and physical therapy manipulations, and indirect treatments which are slower and gentler. Most Osteopathic Physicians use both direct and indirect manipulation depending on the specific application.
