James was invited back for the 5th year to the GP complementary therapy day where several practitioners give a series of lecture’s on their therapies to the county’s newly qualified GP’s. This year there were just under 30 attendees and they all enjoyed hearing about osteopathy, the patient’s experience of it, and why it is an excellent referral route for patients with a wide range of conditions.
Despite the NICE (national institute of clinical excellence) guidelines recommending GP’s refer their patients to osteopaths with non-specific low back pain (click here to view the article) and the NHS’ own musculoskeletal framework guidelines including the need to refer to osteopaths on virtually every page, GP’s don’t regularly refer patients to osteopaths. Part of the reason for this is thought to be a lack of understanding, and this is certainly the case as most of the GP’s who have been on these courses have no understanding as to what osteopathy is or involves. That having been said however, they are keen to find out, as many of them have heard the stories from their patients regarding what a successful treatment approach it can be.
The actual lecture was only 45 minutes but was broken into 2 smaller groups to keep it more informal and allow for questions. James covered a brief history of osteopathy, the principles behind what osteopaths do, the physiology behind the techniques we use and the evidence base behind the practice, before finishing with a demonstration of some of the techinques we use and a typical patient encounter.
It was a good experience for James with plenty of good questions and the day was finished with a very positive feeling from the GP’s that osteopathy was logical, safe, and effective form of treatment, and it’s hoped they will feel more confident in referring or at least letting their patients know that there are excellent alternative treatment approaches available privately locally.
If you’d like more information about osteopathy please let us know or visit the osteopathy part of this website.
