What is osteopathy? Understanding the difference between an osteopath and a physiotherapist
Osteopathy is a holistic manual therapy that focuses on the health of the whole body, and in particular how the skeleton, joints, muscles, nerves, circulation, connective tissue and internal organs function together holistically.
Using skilled evaluation, diagnosis and a wide range of hands-on techniques, osteopaths can identify dysfunction in your body. Osteopathic treatment utilises techniques such as stretching and massage of the soft tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments) along with mobilisation and manipulation of specific joints and soft tissues.
Osteopathy is a safe, effective treatment for everyone, including pregnant women, babies and the elderly. Find out what our osteopaths treat, including shoulder pain, back pain, neck pain and more.
Why should I come to Peace and Performance Osteopaths?
With over 60 years of experience within the team it is likely that we can offer an improvement to most cases. Back, neck, shoulder, hip and knee pain all respond to the osteopathic treatment techniques and are areas that can be difficult to resolve using pharmaceuticals alone.
The Peace and Performance team specialise in complex conditions and those that have failed to respond to other modes of treatment.
The Peace and Performance Clinic offers longer appointments - one hour initially and then subsequent appointments are 40 minutes.
You are most welcome to BOOK ONLINE - even if it's your first appointment. You can also book a relaxation massage at our clinic.
Consider your physical health over the last five years. Is your health as good as you want it to be? Are you struggling to keep up? Have joints tightened and muscles stiffened? Has there been an accident in the past that still bothers you? These are the scenarios we often encounter. Our aim is the resolution of acute and chronic injuries to the best possible state using the insight of the osteopath to guide and facilitate recovery.
Osteopaths are required to be registered by the Osteopathic Council of New Zealand, to maintain their registration by continuous professional development, and are bound by the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act amongst others.
On your first visit we will take a detailed case history of illness and any other factors that may have influenced your health to date (jobs you have done and sports you have played for example). We will discuss the circumstances and characteristics of your current complaint until we have an academic understanding of what might be going on. We then compare that information with your ability to perform some standardised movements. It is beneficial to wear light, comfortable clothing.
The final stage is to compare all that has happened with the ability of the body to relax and switch off. This is where the skill of palpation is used to correlate the findings with the sensations of restriction that may be in the body. By working out some of the relevant restrictions, the patient is restored to a more energy-efficient state and restoration of health and comfort can follow.
This will depend on the type of injury or benefit you are trying to attain from osteopathy but in the majority of cases 3-5 visits can be enough to change tissue health substantially. Occasional maintenance is sometimes required.
Our Osteopaths are all ACC-registered providers. This means there is no doctor's referral needed and we can lodge claims for you if your injury is the result of an accident.
Cranial osteopathy (or biodynamic osteopathy) is a gentle and effective treatment for a range of conditions. It is suitable for everyone but particularly for babies, the elderly, and pregnant woman. A cranial osteopath uses touch to feel for subtle changes of tension and to diagnose strain and dysfunction. Treatment involves releasing this tension throughout the whole body.