Solihull Osteopath, Osteopaths, Osteopathy - The Secret Society

Solihull Osteopath John Williams looks at the role of the Osteopath in the UK and what can Osteopaths really do to help people. John is the Clinic Director of the Atlas Pain Relief Centre group of clinics in Hall Green Birmingham and Tamworth Staffordshire and he is opening a new Birmingham Osteopaths Clinic at the Robin Hood Island, on the Shirley / Solihull border at the end of March 2008. Visit the website www.solihullbackpainclinic.co.uk

If my experience of dealing with the general public is anything to go by, then sadly for Osteopaths in the UK we are still an unknown quantity. How many times am I going to be asked "what is an osteopath? what do osteopaths do? and what is the difference between an osteopath and a chiropractor"

I am sure this is a subject that troubles many osteopaths in the UK, we know that there have been initiatives to promote our profession but if so, the hard work of some and efforts of us all is falling short of what is required. We are as mysterious as a secret society to many of the general population and for some that have heard of osteopaths they are totally confused about what we actually do.

"You´re the fella´s that manipulate the muscles and the chiropractors manipulate your spine" or " chiropractors work on the spine and osteopaths treat the arms and legs.

Many patients that visit me for the first time have booked an appointment to see an osteopath but know virtually nothing about osteopathy, why is this?

As an osteopath, I am extremely proud of my profession and want everyone to know what a huge contribution to the health of the nation we actually make. I want everyone to know what an osteopath is and what they do. Is there an official statement detailing the differences between osteopaths and chiropractors?

Our chiropractic cousins have no such problem because the majority of people would give a familiar reply if asked what a chiropractor does. Can we not find out how the chiropractors achieved such recognition and perhaps adapt something to suit.

We seem to keep patting ourselves on the back and promoting our profession within our ranks. We all know how good our profession is, but isn´t this just preaching to the converted. Let us begin telling the world what osteopaths do and what part we can play in healthcare. Musculo-skeletal pain, especially back pain, seems to be on the increase and affects so many. Why is it, that as the chiropractic and osteopathy professions are often described as being similar, that the population know what chiropractors do and have no idea of what osteopaths do.

We all know that osteopaths do far more than fix bad backs and back pain but do the general public know? We have a fabulous product which in my opinion is not being marketed well enough. If this profession is run as a business then let us see some results. I am not interested in "Spin" I want recognition of our profession, give the job to people who have a successful track record in sales and give them a budget to get the job done.

We pay top dollar for our GOsC registration and I am astounded by comparisons between the GOsC fees and the HPC fees. Both are regulating bodies of professionals and the HPC charges a fraction of the GOsC registration fee.

I hear many osteopaths asking what do the GOsC do for these expensive fees, let us at least be able to say they managed to use our fees to promote osteopathy in a successful manner and achieve what we all want – public recognition !

Any comments or suggestions can be forwarded to jwosteopath@yahoo.com