On your first visit, a full medical history will be taken. All information will be treated as confidential in accordance with standards of practice set out by the Osteopathic Council of Ireland and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If you wish, you may request a copy of your notes.

Your osteopath will need to examine the area(s) of your body causing discomfort. Sometimes the cause of the problem may be in a different area to the pain, so they will need to examine your whole body. They will need to feel for any tightness in the muscles or organs, or stiffness in the joints and may need to touch these areas to identify problems. The osteopath will use their highly developed sense of touch called palpation to assess areas of weakness, tenderness, restriction or strain within your body. They will explain what they are doing as they go along.

If you are uncomfortable with any part of this, you have the right to ask them to stop at any stage, without prejudicing your future treatment.

The osteopath will make a diagnosis and discuss it with you and if osteopathic treatment is suitable, it will be offered to you. Osteopaths usually start any treatment by releasing and relaxing your body, using gentle techniques, rhythmic joint movements and muscle or organ release techniques.  Other techniques may also be used depending on your problem.

Treatments usually last up to 30-40 minutes. Many patients decide that they would like to have periodic preventative treatments to avoid recurring problems