Does Osteopathy work?
This is the million-dollar question. Every day we discharge many patients from our care who are free from pain and able to return to full activity following treatment. Many others find considerable improvemt and some chose to continue with treatment on a regular basis, say every month or so, because it enables them to keep going. In 1996 – 98 our practice took part, with 27 others around the country, in a research project undertaken by the Medical Research Unit of the University of Sheffield. As a part of this, a survey of a sample of referred patients was undertaken in order to measure satisfaction with treatment and perceived health gain following treatment. The research team reported that “the majority of patients referred reported a significant change in health status, particularly pain reduction, following treatment”. Osteopathy is not, of course, a panacea. From surveys we have done within our practice we know that, if a patient is going to benefit from Osteopathy, they will do s
