Alison Odey

I know Osteopaths are not supposed to have accidents but we are human and I personally know all about ‘tripping up’ and as a result enduring severe spinal pain and more specifically severe referred pain.
Referred pain can often cause confusion when people come for treatment as the site of the pain may be well away from the site of the injury. Not only pain, but nerve impingement can cause altered sensation in different areas of the body or weakness in certain muscles.

For example, sciatic pain can be referred to the hips, knees or the feet. Feet can often be hot/burning or legs ‘jumpy’. You may also feel a numbness in the toes or lack of sensation compared to the other foot.
Impingement of the L2 nerve (upper lumbar) can cause severe pain in the anterior part of the thigh.

Excessive tension in the quadratus lumborum muscle can  cause a sharp ‘knifelike’ pain in the  back and the severity of pain may be totally immobilizing and emotionally distressful.  It is often on one side only and I have heard of it being mistaken for ‘gall bladder’ pain.

Similarly Iliopsoas muscle pain may show up as groin pain, deep
pelvic pain, pain deep in the belly, or lower back pain.
Pain from the gastrocnemius often occurs at the back of the knee during knee flexion with resistance. Using the accelerator of your car may elicit this type of pain.

Cervical pain can refer to the elbows, wrists and hands. Fingers may feel stiff or tingly and I’ve even had someone think they had ‘gout’ in the hands only to find that there was an impinged nerve in the neck.

Ear ache can be caused by referred from the sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM) which attaches just below the ear onto the skull.

If you have pain that is unexplained, it will pay to have it checked out by an Osteopath. As both Osteopath AND Naturopath I am qualified to look at all areas of your health. I often will recommend natural treatments or exercises to help with the presenting situation and also to help prevent future problems.
This, to me has always been to object of  a consultation….to teach
people how to prevent ill health, injury, pain or discomfort, rather than book people for continual follow up treatments.

If you need help in any of this regard, then please do not hesitate to make an appointment. It could well be worth it.