The dominant attitude towards health today is a curative, reactive one.

Indeed, we will sit and work all day hunched back in our chair staring at a computer screen, eat our ready-meal dinner (following on from our snack lunch sat at the desk), then slouch into a settee and watch the evening news and film, putting off exercising and losing weight until tomorrow or next week… and if anything goes wrong, we only need to pay a visit to our GP, who will prescribe a few pills and get us back in the saddle – fast!

Yet why are we spending so much time damaging rather than nurturing our health? And as the damage is often gradually done over a long period of time, how can we expect our doctors to instantly assess and “fix the problem” in the space of a five minute consultation?

As holistic osteopaths, we aspire to embody and share a very different health model.

For starters, we view the human body as nothing short of a miracle of design and execution, a true gift well worth nurturing and protecting from birth into advanced decades of age.

We also know from clinical experience and practice that the body naturally tends towards health rather than disease, and has an amazing ability to self repair and right itself if allowed to.

In effect, our view is that the best form of fighting disease is not a curative pill, but the preventive approach of attending to all the conditions underpinning excellent, long term health.

The underlying conditions of health are rather more wide-ranging than consuming the “five portions of fruit and veg” a day and walking for half an hour three times a week – which sadly most of us fail to do.

We are interested in promoting health as resting on:

• an alkaline, rather than acid-forming, diet ensuring that the right balance of food groups, vitamins and minerals is fulfilled;
• enough of the right source of fluids;
• a balanced exercise schedule, combining cardiovascular health, flexibility and muscle tone;
• minimising exposure to toxins, in very practical ways;
• postural awareness, work ergonomics and workplace exercise routines that tend to prevent workplace injuries
• good breathing awareness and practice;
• good sleep;
• the regular practice of relaxation and meditation routines

Six months ago, we encompassed these thoughts and recommendations into a short workshop called “ten tips to avoid the osteopath” and have been delivering it since in a wide range of settings – health spas, companies, old peoples’ homes, sheltered accommodation, clubs – in an attempt to promote a more positive, empowered approach to health in the community.

If you are interested in this workshop either personally or on behalf of a company or organisation (as well as personal consultations we also offer a range of structured services for employers: health workshops, ergonomic assessments and on-site osteopathic treatment) please contact Mathieu at the clinic on 01895 2000 50.