Why Does The Osteopath Take A Case History?
For those of you who have never seen an Osteopath, Chiropractor or Physiotherapist, taking a case history on your initial and return consultations is probably the most important part of the osteopathic consultation. The case history part of a consultation allows the practitioner (osteopath, chiropractor or physiotherapist) to gain a better understanding of the following:
- The site of the pain
- When the injury occurred
- How the injury occurred
- The nature of the injury (daily pattern, weekly pattern)
- The type of pain
- Associated signs and symptoms with the injury
- Maintaining and aggravating factors i.e. postures, work activities, leisure activities, ergonomics
- Past medical history relating to the musculoskeletal injury
- General health and wellbeing relating to diet, sleep patterns, stress levels, cardiovascular health, respiratory health, gastrointestinal health, neurological health, imaging, history of trauma/surgery/fractures, exercise history)
- Family history
Taking a thorough case history can often take 15-20 minutes and following this, the practitioner should be able to set out a plan with regards to the examination process. The case history will give the practitioner clues as to what type of injury you might have as well as any other assessments that they need to conduct to identify if it is a musculoskeletal complaint.
One question that came up early in my career as an osteopath is, why do you need to know all the medical history when I have a simple muscle strain? These days I will explain to my client before the consultation the osteopathic consultation process and what is involved in a case history. Although you might only have a simple muscle strain, sometimes other medical related conditions might be affecting this particular injury or may impact on the assessment and treatment process. There has been many times where i have taken a case history for a simple back injury and then through further questioning of the clients general health and wellbeing identified through further assessments and investigations following on from my case history that they have high blood pressure, are on medications that could affect the treatment approach to their injury etc.
Hopefully the above information gives you a brief insight into the case history component of the osteopathy consultation. As I say to all my clients, if you ever have any questions during a consultation, please feel free to ask and I will explain.
Principle Four Osteopathy is one of Melbourne City CBD leading Osteopathy clinics. At the clinic we treat a wide range of clients, ranging from the office worker, exercise enthusiast to athlete. We have 3 experienced osteopaths working across both of the clinics.
The Melbourne City CBD clinic is located at 29 Somerset Place (basement), close to the corner of Elizabeth St and Little Bourke in the Melbourne City CBD. Our premises adjoin the Jon Weller Personal Training Studio, a fully-equipped training space which allows clients to combine their osteopathy treatment with exercise tutorials or specific training programs and rehabilitation.
The Docklands clinic is located at 717 Bourke St (Ground Floor), beneath the Channel 9 building near the walkway from Southern Cross Train Station to Etihad Stadium. Our premises adjoin Pilates on Bourke, a fully-equipped pilates and yoga training space which allows clients to combine their osteopathy treatment with exercise tutorials, pilates or specific training programs and rehabilitation.
To speak to an Osteopath or book an appointment at Principle Four Osteopathy, please book online or call 03 9670 9290.