What is the difference between chiropractic and osteopathy?
At the Farnham Chiropractic Wellness clinic we are often asked, "What is the difference between chiropractic and osteopathy?". Or, "What's the difference between chiropractic and physiotherapy / massage / acupuncture / etc...
As a profession, we are the only ones who focus primarily on releasing interference from the nervous system. You can read more about this in a post below (Chiropractic Philosophy) and get more in-depth information at ChiroBlog.
Aside from the philosophy, what makes us different to osteopaths and physio's who specialise in spinal manipulation is the nature of the chiropractic spinal adjustment. It is characterised by a shallow but very fast thrust. The chiropractic adjustment is also far more specific with regards to direction and location.
What we also explain to our clients is that there is always going to be a difference between one practitioner and another. Even if they share the same profession. So what we then need to do is explain how our chiropractors approach the health concerns of the client. Our approach is unique to anything that other chiropractors are doing in the surrounding area.
From years of study and practice (almost decades, gulp!), it has become evident that where the symptom shows up is seldom the cause of the problem.
We, at the Farnham Chiropractic Wellness clinic, have invested in state of the art computerised diagnostic equipment. It is called the 'Insight Subluxation Station'. This equipment has been certified by the Space Foundation and used by NASA on two space shuttle missions. It allows us to map our clients' patterns of nerve system stress. The analysis is very visual so anyone can easily understand the measurements. We offer rescans as our clients progress in their care.
We don't only use the Insight Subluxation Station at the first visit, but routinely use it to re-examine our clients to make sure the objective changes we are hoping for are actually happening.
On the low-tech end of the scale we use our hands to do something called manual muscle testing. This is a non-symptom based measurement of muscle control. Through a series of cross checks we are able to find our client's primary issue/s. This helps us get to the cause of the problem, instead of chasing the pain and compensation.
You can get more information about the techniques we use in our clinic at our Techniques page.
In this article, I would prefer to summarise our approach and not get into specifics, as they differ from client to client. The manual muscle testing gives us accurate information about what is working and what isn't. By using chiropractic adjustments we get the muscles functioning again.
We don't forget about the injury site (symptom), so the application of some form of soft tissue approach is usually necessary.
When the time is right, rehabilitative exercises will be prescribed to strengthen weak areas and stretch tight areas. We make educating out clients a high priority and run weekly health care classes on Monday evening at around 7pm. In fact, anyone is free to attend these classes but you will need to book your slot. Click here to contact us.