Case Studies
We have included a selection of patient case studies to give you a clearer and more practical understanding of what an osteopath does and how osteopathic treatment works in real-life situations. These examples illustrate the wide range of issues osteopaths can help with, from everyday aches and pains to more complex or long-standing problems. By sharing these experiences, we hope to show how treatment is tailored to each individual, what to expect during care, and how osteopathy can support recovery, movement, and overall wellbeing.
Patient Stories
Click on the titles to read more about each case study.
Busy Professional with Headaches
Symptoms
Kate, an office worker, aged 28, recently presented to the clinic complaining of headaches and a little lower back pain. When she was 8, Kate had a heavy fall out of a tree onto her bottom. She was bruised and sore for a few days, but soon forgot about it. Unknown to her, she still carried with her compressive strain in her sacrum and lumbar spine, and in the base of her skull.
Treatment
At age 21, Kate was in a car accident in which she sustained a mild whiplash.
All car accidents put enormous strain throughout the whole spine, and this added to the exisiting strain from her fall as a child. At age 28, when Kate was subjected to stress at work, she began to develop headaches and backache.
On examination the top of her neck and the base of her skull were found to be compressed and immobile, most likley from the effects of the childhood fall and the car accident. Treatment to release these retained strains restored the harmony of her body’s tissues, and Kate was relieved of her headaches and backache. She has also noticed more energy, is sleeping better and coping better with the stress at work.
Baby with Digestive Difficulties
Symptoms
Jamie presented at 11 weeks. He was getting more & more difficult to settle & his bouts of crying were lengthening. His symptoms included a hard abdomen, him squirming due to wind pain in the digestive tract, & difficulty bringing up and expelling wind.
On examination restrictions were found in his left hip & in his left occipital region.
Treatment
The occipital region is at the base of the baby’s skull & is where the vagus nerve exits to supply the digestive tract.
As well as gently releasing his left hip and occiput, our Osteopath improved the function of the pelvis, spine and ribs to allow better nerve and blood supply to the digestive tract and less twisting and compression through the abdomen.
Jamie slept well after the first treatment & his crying spells notabley decreased. Jamie attended for subsequent treatments every two weeks for four sessions. The two week interval was to allow for the body to heal itself and respond to the treatment. At the end of this time Jamie was a much happier child who no longer screamed or pulled up his knees after feeding.
Child with Head, Ear & Sinus Congestion
Symptoms
Sally is a ten year old girl who over the years has suffered repeatedly from recurrent ear infections. Due to the pain & discomfort of these she has had to have three sets of gromits inserted from the time she was a baby to four years of age.
Recently Sally has suffered from a couple of colds leading to mild hearing difficulty & head congestion. She went to see her ENT specialist who performed a hearing test to establish if she had any hearing loss.
Treatment
Hearing is achieved by both bone & air conduction of sound waves. Testing revealed her hearing anatomy to be fine. However, the fluid she was retaining in both ears was reducing the air conduction of sound (as it had to travel through the fluid) and gave the result of less acute hearing.
Sally and her mum were keen to try an alternative to another set of gromits and after a little research decided to try an Osteopathic approach. Osteopathic examination revealed that Sally had a restriction of her right collar bone with increased tightness of the muscles in this region.
As a result of this there was poor drainage out of the head and neck leading to a build up of fluid in the ear canal. Osteopathic treatment focused on gently releasing these restrictions and improving drainage out of the head and ears to allow fluid to drain back into the lymphatic system.
After three sessions both Sally and her mum reported a big improvement in her hearing and her head felt much clearer and less congested. Sally had such a good response to treatment and her hearing had improved significantly.
