Perhaps you’ve been struggling with discomfort, pain, stiffness or tightness in the back or neck? Perhaps you’ve also been struggling with it on or off for some time: weeks, months or even years?
Well you’re not alone. This sort of pain is both common and often ongoing, with some days or weeks better than others. Sometimes the pain just flares up for a week or so before settling back down. Sometimes it sticks around for weeks.
Do you know what’s causing it or have you just chalked it up as a fact of life?
More often than not, the symptoms of physical pain or discomfort are unexplained, undiagnosed and any treatments that have been tried, have been unsuccessful.
And this lack of cause or diagnosis can leave you feeling, at best resigned to pain, and at worst, tired, frustrated and annoyed at the impact it’s having on your life.
You can get your life back!
If you’re sceptical about the idea of ever getting your life back, then please stick around. You can enjoy feeling fit and well, free from constants thoughts about pain or discomfort. You may even be able to enjoy your sport and exercise again. And it’s probably much easier to get back on track than you realise.
Conventional medicine often can’t help
Seeking help through your local GP is a tried and tested route and we all know that they do an incredible job in an overstretched service. But, they have 5 or ten minutes with you. You may have to wait a while for that appointment and unless your problem needs onward referral then besides from advice and painkiller prescription, there’s not an awful lot that a GP can do.
Consider an alternative
Osteopathy used to be considered ‘alternative’. Not any more. It’s an established, regulated profession with a wealth of evidence behind it. Manual therapies where you get hands on treatment can diagnose and treat a whole range of problems. Perhaps you’re not sure what an osteopath or chiropractor does or whether they can actually help. If not, pick up the phone or drop us an email and ask us. We’ll do our best to answer any questions you have.
So, what are the alternatives?
Well, there’s loads. 5 minutes searching on Google could leave you bewildered and confused with the range of different therapies, exercise regimes, aids and supports out there.It’s important to note that no one therapy is the panacea, the cure-all. Whether it’s osteopathy, chiropractic, physiotherapy, acupuncture, sports massage etc., they all have something to offer.But if you’re struggling with pain then it’s important to find the right therapy for you and, within that therapy, the right person to treat you. After all, you’re going to be placing a lot of trust in that person.
So how do you find the right person and treatment?
Well, start with a little research. See what type of therapy sounds like the one that you might benefit from. Talk to friends and family. If they’ve not seen someone that they can recommend then they probably know someone who has.
Still not sure? Any practitioner worth their salt will spare you some time to help advise you as to whether they may be able to help. We offer free 15-minute consultations for this purpose.
And don’t be afraid to approach a practitioner. We all got into the profession, whichever it may be, to help people, so we’re pretty nice people on the whole! And all the other stuff – exercise, nutrition, aids and supports? We can help advise on these.
Which is where we come in
We’ve helped an awful lot of people since the clinic was opened in Haywards Heath. We have the time and expertise to work out exactly what the problem is and to put together a full treatment plan to get on top of the symptoms and take you forward from there.
We work closely with you so that it’s not just about treatment but also about changing the things at home and at work that can contribute to these long-term problems. In other words, we can help you tackle both the cause and any exacerbating factors, as well as treating the problem. And that’s got to be better than living with pain or constantly covering it up with painkillers.