Written by Dr. Irene Clavijo

Find out all you need to know about your first osteopathy appointment.

In the Turo Park Dental and Medical Center, Dr Irene Clavijo works in our team of highly qualified specialists. She provides the fundamental osteopathy consultation for our international patients in their own language.

What is osteopathy?

Osteopathy is a manual therapy that diagnoses and treats restrictions of mobility in different parts of the body.

A loss of mobility at articular, muscular, fascial, visceral levels can lead to a disequilibrium that compromises the health of the entire body and that may translate into specific symptoms. Osteopathy finds these restrictions in mobility and corrects them with techniques that vary in line with the different type of oseopathy practiced. The result is a reharmonisation of the body.

Importantly, osteopathy and physiotherapy are often confused, but there are differences between the two.

What will happen in your first trip to the osteopath in our clinic

(so that you know what to expect in an osteopathy consultation)

Firstly, the doctor will conduct a typical clinical questioning (health history) in which the patient's state of health will be assessed from a classical medical point of view.

Then they will conduct a typical physical examination focused on the problems that showed up in the questioning before.

Following this, with the patient already lying down, the osteopathy session will start. In this phase, the doctor will find diagnostical information from their own osteopathic perspective which also shapes the treatments used during the session. The session itself lasts around 40 minutes.

The osteopath's technique

The fundamental type of osteopathy uses manual treatment techniques that are very gentle on the patient but work the tissues in depth. Therefore, there aren’t great body mobilisations, nor will the osteopath "crunch" the joints as with other types of osteopathic techniques.

During this osteopathy consultation, the osteopath principally works the skull and sacrum with their hands, and so assesses the general condition from that axis. Then, from what they have found and the reason for the consultation itself, the professional will explore other parts of the body, using different techniques that are always done in accordance with the patient’s comfort. As a result, this type of osteopathy works at a very deep level.

The result

In conclusion, an osteopathy consultation has an immense capacity to rebalance the body and diagnoses multiple symptoms for osteoarticular problems, visceral problems, headaches, insomnia, emotional tensions, etc.

At the end of the session, the doctor will explain their conclusions to the patient and, if required, will give recommendations and/or classic exercises or therapeutic yoga excersises in the form of breathing, meditation, positions… they may also prescribe food supplements.

Normally, depending on the ailment and its evolution, a second visit will be necessary after two to three weeks.