What is Osteopathy?

“It is the object of a physician to find health, anyone can find disease”
Andrew Tayl
or Still M.D., D.O. (founder of Osteopathy)

Osteopathy is one of the most effective and safe treatments for a great number of our health problems because the osteopath  seeks to understand the answers to three basic questions in every case:

1. why this problem?

2. why this patient?

3. why now?

With this information at their finger tips osteopaths are able to decide how best to treat the patient and if it is appropriate when to refer the patient to somebody better qualified to diagnose or treat the patient instead.

Continue reading “What is Osteopathy?”

About Osteopathic Treatment – what to expect

Osteopathic treatment is gentle and non-invasive. Osteopathy works on the muscles, joints and nervous system as well as evaluating other relevant structures where necessary. It treats the body as a whole unit and considers many aspects of the patient’s life.

Adhesive-capsulitis-treatmentBritish Osteopathy is a primary healthcare system, complementary to other medical practices, with a sound foundation in biomedical sciences. An important principle of osteopathy is the recognition of the body’s natural self-healing mechanisms. Patients may be referred by their doctor or opt to attend an osteopathic clinic independently.

Osteopathic Consultation
Osteopathic Practitioners consider the whole person, so at the first consultation a detailed case history is compiled, followed by a thorough examination of the muscles, ligaments and joints, as well as evaluating other relevant structures where necessary. This will take up to 60 minutes depending on the complexity of your problem.

Your Osteopathic Practitioner will also observe your movements carefully. Once a diagnosis is reached they will discuss with you a range of options relating to your care. If osteopathic treatment is felt to be appropriate, with your consent a wide range of gentle manual techniques may be used. This may include deep tissue massage and the movement of joints. You may also be advised on exercise, posture or diet.

Some patients need only one treatment; others have a longer course of therapy or some patients choose to return periodically for help managing longer term conditions.

Why “Wildfox”?


Inside us all is a Primal Creature,

Something of Being…of feeling and expressing with a directness that has no shame.

This wild animal is full of Will to Live; and an instinctive understanding of where to be and what best nourishes.

It is the glossy coat and intense life-filled eyes, the grace of power held in muscle-motion. The creature inside does not stumble mournfully-ragefully-grumbling in sorrow. The creature inside dances lightly upon the earth, with grounded feet-paws-hooves. It breathes in deeply and scents the world around – taking IN.

It is awareness. Noticing with a directness that has no judgement.

It is pleasure when pleasure is ripe, and it is pain when pain must be felt. It is play and it is grief. It is the light that is untarnished by sin, the natural beauty that draws us home to Earth. It does not need gender, nor does it need lables, or scores, or templates, or rules. It is. It is the gut-wrench and heart-crush, it is the lost-howl and the fear-pricks. It is orgasms and it is tears. Our primal nature is our embodiment, in raw-commonality with all people beyond the walls and rules of any culture. It connects us to the scream of birth and sigh of death. We can not transcend our body without rejecting our soul.  We yearn for ourselves. Time to come home.

– April 2015 © Catherine Bryant


(Foreword : This article applies to Osteopathy and Osteopaths as practiced in the UK. In America Osteopaths are a type of licensed physician. I am not a licensed physician, and in Canada I use the term Osteopathic Practitioner to describe myself and my work.)

Osteopathy is not a set of techniques, but rather a philosophy and approach to health. When applied in practice,   Osteopathy can make profound changes to a person’s wellbeing.

Osteopaths do not focus on fixing the disease or symptom. Instead we look for restoring the inherant health in a person. Osteopaths take detailed case history and examinations of your whole being – looking for what is blocking or interfering with that expression of health. We apply understanding and techniques to support the body and mind to release, remove and overcome these obstacles, thus allowing the natural vitality to restore. The best medicine comes from within, and all Life has a strong drive towards balance and wholeness.

Osteopaths are all different! What we share in common is a deep grounding in clinical science, medical diagnosis, principles of anatomy and physiology – but the way we engage with our patients is our own art. You can not separate the artist from their art, or the clinician from their work. The connection and relationship we form with you, what we notice, how we see things – all of these colour and shape our approach, as well as our choice of techniques and application of manual skills. Transformative healing is a deep and personal journey. Finding the right practitioner for you is important. Osteopaths often develop their own specialities based on personal interest and passion.

The core artistic passion fo my Osteopathic practice is to restore to you a personal knowing of your “primal  creature”. This is an experiential, lived-in sense of wild embodiment and personal truth. What does that mean? It means you experience your body as an integrated, cherished, respected, shame-free core of your being, rather than something separate, feared, numbed or traumatised. It means you are attuned to what you really desire, need, and know. It means you hear and trust your instincts and wisdom. It means a restoration of sanity, ease, and gentle living in world so often ruled by stress and fear.

This passion has been born from my own journey back ‘into’ my body, and supported by a fusion of skills, expertise and training. My life is an ongoing exploration into discovering gateways, methods, tools, and inspiration(link) that I bring back to share with you. We create art together, transforming your experience of self and recovering a great vitality and joy in life.