Osteopathy

Osteopathic manual therapy is a hands-on, whole-body approach to the muscles, joints and connective tissue. At SOMOM it is provided by an osteopathic manual practitioner and used to help you move and feel more comfortably in everyday life — alongside your pelvic floor physiotherapy and the rest of your care, not in place of it.

Rather than looking only at the spot that hurts, osteopathy considers how the whole body is connected: how the pelvis, spine, ribcage, breathing and limbs work together, and how a restriction in one area can change the load somewhere else. The aim is to help your body find easier, more balanced movement.

What osteopathic manual therapy can help with

Using gentle mobilisation, soft-tissue work and other manual techniques, osteopathic care may help you manage:

• Low back, mid-back and neck discomfort
• Hip, pelvic and sciatic-type pain
• Aches related to posture, desk work, lifting and carrying
• Tension headaches linked to the neck and jaw
• Pregnancy-related pelvic girdle and back pain
• General stiffness and restricted movement as you recover from injury or childbirth

Care always begins with an assessment, so that what you are experiencing is understood before any hands-on treatment. If osteopathy is not the right fit for your situation, that will be discussed with you and you will be pointed toward more appropriate care.

What an osteopathic assessment involves

Your first visit is mostly a conversation followed by a physical assessment. Your practitioner asks about your symptoms, your history, your daily activities and what you would like to get back to, then looks at how you stand, move and breathe. Because the body works as a whole, areas away from your main complaint are often assessed too — how your hips move can influence your lower back, and how you breathe can influence your ribs, neck and pelvic floor.

From there, you and your practitioner agree on a plan. Treatment is gentle and always at your pace, with your consent at each step.

Osteopathy in pregnancy and postpartum

Pregnancy steadily changes posture and load. As the hormone relaxin softens ligaments and your centre of gravity shifts, the pelvis, lower back and hips carry weight differently, and everyday movements can start to ache. Osteopathic techniques can be adapted for each stage of pregnancy to help you stay comfortable and mobile.

After birth — whether vaginal or by caesarean — your body keeps adapting as you feed, lift and carry your baby. Gentle osteopathic care in the postpartum period can support your recovery, and it works particularly well alongside pelvic floor physiotherapy: the deeper core and pelvic floor are retrained while the surrounding joints and tissues are helped to move well.

How osteopathy supports pelvic health

The pelvic floor never works on its own. It sits within a system that includes the pelvis, hips, lower back, diaphragm and the way you breathe and manage pressure. When any of these is stiff, guarded or working inefficiently, it can change how the pelvic floor loads and recovers. By helping the surrounding joints and soft tissue move more freely, osteopathic care can complement the specific pelvic floor retraining your physiotherapist provides — the two approaches address different parts of the same picture.

Care that is coordinated in one place

Because your osteopathic manual practitioner works in the same clinic as your physiotherapist, massage therapist and other providers, your care can be coordinated rather than referred back and forth. With your consent, findings are shared so everyone is working toward the same goals. Osteopathy is always used to complement your medical care, and we work alongside your family doctor, OB or midwife rather than in place of them.