“By leveraging on the body’s inherent self-healing ability, an osteopath simply unlocks the door that the body was not able to go through to continue its path in the healing process”
MOVEMENT is an expression of life and is made possible by the musculoskeletal system. Without it, simple but essential everyday movements such as sitting, standing, walking, jumping, talking or holding are unthinkable. The musculoskeletal system comprises bones, muscles, cartilages, tendons, ligaments, joints and more, which are all interconnected and work seamlessly together. Besides allowing movement, the system as a whole also gives form to the body by keeping bones in place, supporting the weight of the body, protecting the internal organs and providing stability. As a single system, all the different components affect one another.
“It is like a Swiss watch where you have many different pieces that create the clock’s movement. It has small and big components moving together in perfect harmony. When one of the parts stop working properly, it affects some part or the whole system,” shares osteopath Nicolas Grimaldi.
A disruption to the musculoskeletal system is referred to as a mechanical or musculoskeletal disorder. These can include sprains, slip disc, whiplash, back pain, neck strain and more. The cause of these disorders can vary from an accident, a fall, impact sport, bad posture to repetitive movements. To repair the disorder, a method called manipulation is used to restore the positions of the misplaced “parts” of the body, to facilitate proper healing. This is the domain of an osteopath, who addresses the deformities and changes that have occurred to one’s body (structure) in an attempt to return it to its optimal form. quality to heal, without the use of drugs and surgery. After 10 years of delving deeper into anatomy, he discovered that manipulations of the musculoskeletal system were able to address a variety of conditions.
Osteopathy is essentially based on a couple of rules. The first as previously discussed, acknowledges the body as one system (or unit) and that all parts are interconnected and thus, influences each other.
The second recognises the body’s inherent self-healing ability. By leveraging on this vital process, an osteopath simply “unlocks the door that the body was not able to go through to continue its path in the healing process”. If there is a block, an osteopath removes it and then lets the body continue healing on its own. In other words, osteopaths only do what is necessary in order to help the body continue in its path of healing. uses their hands to apply sudden but controlled force to readjust the affected area. The other is to gently “assist” for example, a misplaced vertebra, into the intended position, which allows the tissues around the affected area to slowly readjust and realign, accordingly. Another fundamental technique in osteopathy is the cranio-sacral technique, which involves light holding (tiny manipulations) of the skull and sacrum.
Although osteopathy does not involve any medication or surgical intervention, osteopaths have been known to suggest certain exercises and even referring patients to a dietitian, physiotherapist, etc. “The interesting part of our work is that we provide a better balance to the system so that it will work in a better way. So, if there is a reason that you are hunched and we manage to fix that, you will cease to hunch. But if it involves bad habits, like bad posture causing the hunch, the patient needs to address that. If a patient’s bad diet is resulting in high blood sugar, which is causing inflammation, that needs to be sorted out or our work will not be as effective.”