Osteo awareness week
Osteopathy and its contribution to global healthcare will be celebrated this week by 400 registered and practicing New Zealand osteopaths during National Osteopathy Awareness Week (April 19-25).
They join 130,000 colleagues working in more than 50 countries involved in the International Osteopathic Healthcare Week, which runs in tandem with the Kiwi national event.
This week, free health checks will be conducted in various parts of the country, including Matamata, to help communicate the importance of osteopathic care.
Locally, Alex Reina from Kaimai Osteopaths will be offering free postural checks for the remainder of April.
Osteopathy originated in the United States in 1874.
‘‘It’s more than just treating bad backs.
‘‘It’s an evidence-informed form of manual medicine that’s gentle and has wide ranging benefits,’’ Osteopaths New Zealand president Jonathon Lloyd- Paine said.
The hands-on healthcare approach diagnoses problems and provides treatment in order to decrease symptoms like pain and improve function.
It facilitates healing by focussing on how the musculoskeletal system, nerves, circulation and internal organs function as one unit.
Typically, osteopaths can assist with:
Unsettled babies (reflux), debilitating headaches, breathing difficulties, joint problems (jaw/teeth grinding), back pain, pregnancy related disorders (pelvic pain), developmental problems and sports injuries.
Globally, it’s a wellestablished healthcare profession and is used by New Zealand cycling, triathlon and canoeing Olympic athletes and board sailors competing at world championship level. In New Zealand, it’s regulated under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act (2003) and osteopaths are registered ACC providers.
Osteopaths here must do five years university training to a Masters postgraduate degree level.
When practicing they must be registered with the Osteopathic Council of New Zealand.