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appts@buryosteopaths.co.uk  -  01284 769 153

What To Expect

When visiting an osteopath for the first time, it is natural to feel a little unsure of what to expect. The following information will explain what happens and answer any questions you may have.

Your Consultation

Our Osteopaths are healthcare professionals who are specifically trained in diagnosing health issues. (To find out more about osteopaths, click here). At the start of your first appointment, one of our osteopaths will ask you questions about your medical history and lifestyle, as well as any symptoms you may be experiencing. This is very important as it will help them to make an accurate diagnosis and suggest appropriate treatment. They will write down what you tell them in your records. These will be treated as confidential in accordance with standards of practice set out by the General Osteopathic Council and the Data Protection Act 1998 (please see our Data Protection/Privacy page for more information). If you wish, you may request a copy of your notes, but you may be charged an administration fee for this. Your osteopath will need to examine the area(s) of your body causing discomfort. Sometimes the cause of the problem may be in a different area to the pain, (For example, pain in your lower arm may be linked to the nerves in your neck) so they may need to examine your whole body. They will need to feel for any tightness in the muscles and stiffness in the joints and may need to touch these areas to identify problems. They will explain what they are doing as they go along. If you are uncomfortable with any part of this, you have the right to ask them to stop at any stage, without prejudicing your future treatment.

What to Wear

As with any healthcare appointment, it may be necessary for your osteopath to ask you to remove some clothing. This is so they can see and touch the areas of the body causing you concern. Your osteopath will want you to feel at ease, therefore if you feel uncomfortable undressing to your underwear, your osteopath may be able to suggest wearing clothing, such as shorts and a t-shirt, or close-fitting garments, that will enable them to work effectively, so please do discuss this with them. You may wish to seek treatment from an osteopath of the same sex as yourself. You are also welcome to ask a friend or relative to accompany you and be present throughout your appointment.

Your Treatment

Your osteopath will make a diagnosis and discuss a course of treatment with you. This may involve further visits for manual therapy – a range of gentle hands on techniques that focus on releasing tension, stretching muscles and mobilising joints. Together with exercises that you can do at home and helpful advice designed to help you relieve or manage your pain, keep active and maintain the best of health. They will discuss the likely cost of this and ask for your consent to begin treatment. Most osteopaths will begin your treatment at your first appointment, but sometimes they may require further tests first i.e. blood tests or scans. Occasionally they may diagnose an illness that they are unable to treat and may refer you to your GP or another appropriate health professional.

Is Treatment Painful?

Osteopathic treatment is usually a very gentle process and osteopaths work very hard to make treatment as painless as possible, but you may experience some discomfort during and after treatment. Your osteopath will warn you if they think that the technique that they are about to use is likely to be uncomfortable and will stop if you tell them that you are feeling too much pain. Following treatment you may experience some mild soreness in the area of their body that was treated, this will normally will go away within 48 hours. If you experience serious or unusual symptoms after treatment you should contact your osteopath straight away for advice.

How much does it cost?

For our Osteopaths, the current fees are £70 for your first visit, this is for 45 mins which includes a consultation and treatment and £64 for subsequent visits (30 mins) with Jonathan Kettle and £58 for all other practitioners . Childen under the age of 14 years £70 intially with subsequent appointments at £60 ( from 1/01/24). For our Sports Therapist, the current fees are £65 for an hour appointments and £55 for 45 mins. (effective 1st January 2023 remain for 2024) If you are insured, you are expected to settle the bill for each visit and you will be given a receipt so that you can reclaim the fee from your insurance company. Payment can be made by cash, cheque or credit/debit card.

Cancellation policy

We require 24 hours minimum notice if you cannot make a pre-booked appointment, you can phone or email us on 01284 769153, appts@buryosteopaths.co.uk. A 50% Cancellation Fee will apply to any appointments that are No-Show or who did not cancel in enough time to enable us to offer the time to someone else.