By the time most patients seek treatment, they are already experiencing pain, having difficulty moving or participating in their sports/hobbies and struggling to cope with work or family commitments.
Those occasional aches and pains are your bodies early warning signs. If that red light on your dashboard was flashing away, most people wouldnāt leave it for months before getting it checked out by a mechanic. Our bodies are vastly more complex and most parts canāt be replaced. Masking symptoms with the odd self-prescribed painkiller is not resolving the underlying issue(s).
Itās not necessary to wait until youāre in agony to seek treatment. Prompt action when you first notice relatively small changes or slight niggles is most effective. Acting fast can help prevent minor issues becoming major ones, other areas of the body compensating and becoming fatigued / injured and long periods off work / sports.
Early warning signs
Aches and pains
These mean that some tissue(s) in your body arenāt happy and are experiencing stress and/or injury. The source of pain could be bone, joint, ligament, tendon, muscle, nerve or even referred from other areas or from internal organs.
Stiffness or reduced mobility
Can you still turn to look over your shoulder when reversing the car, easily put your socks on and touch your toes. If not, these can be signs of muscle shortening, tension, joint irritation or early wear and tear.
Your body is complex and interconnected, for example that tight upper back can cause headaches and itās restricted motion could be overworking the low back. The tension here could have caused some pelvic imbalance which has predisposed to knee pain due to misalignment and altered muscle pull.
Osteopath can help, not only when your in agony but before. Prevention is better than cure!
