Most osteopathy practices treat everything from ankles to necks. We treat only the head, neck and jaw. People sometimes ask why, and the answer explains most of how we work.
Why the narrow focus
Headaches, jaw pain, neck pain, dizziness and concussion have a few things in common. They are common. They are often long-standing by the time someone seeks help. They frequently overlap: a jaw problem produces headaches, a neck injury produces dizziness, a concussion leaves all three. And they are easy to under-assess, because the upper neck and the jaw are small, complex areas where general training is brief and where a lot of the assessment skill comes from doing it every day.
Concentrating on these conditions means every appointment, every case and all of our continuing education goes into the same area. It also means we see the patterns that connect them, which a practitioner treating a sore back one hour and a headache the next is less likely to.
Assessment before treatment
A first appointment is an hour, and most of it is assessment. We start with a detailed history, because how a problem behaves tells us a great deal about what is driving it. Then a hands-on examination of the areas involved: the upper neck joints, the muscles beneath the skull and around the jaw, the jaw joint, posture, and where relevant the balance and visual systems.
We explain what we find as we go, and before treatment starts we tell you what we think is contributing, what we propose to do about it and how long it is likely to take. Treatment usually begins in the same session once that makes sense to you.
Treating the cause, not the symptom
Pain is the end result of something else. A headache might be coming from stiff upper neck joints; jaw pain from overworked muscles and a joint that is not tracking; dizziness from a neck that is sending the brain inaccurate information. Treatment is aimed at those contributors rather than at the pain alone, and it is combined with exercises and advice on the habits and loads that keep the problem going, because the hour on the table is only part of what changes a long-standing pattern.
Working with your other practitioners
Many of the people we see have already been to a GP, a physio, a dentist or a neurologist. We work alongside those practitioners rather than instead of them. We report back to referring GPs and dentists where you would like us to, and we are comfortable co-managing with medication, splints or other treatment already in place.
Telling you when we cannot help
Not every headache is a neck problem and not every jaw problem is ours to treat. Some have causes that need a doctor, a dentist or a specialist. If that is what we find, we will say so at the first appointment and point you to the right person, rather than book a run of appointments that will not get to the cause.
Where to see us: osteopaths in Ballina and Lismore
You can see our osteopath in Ballina, inside Ballina Health Centre on Tamar Street, or our osteopath in Lismore, inside Hinterland Osteopathy on Molesworth Street. Appointments, fees and your records are the same at both, and you do not need a referral. Details are on our patient information page.