A day in the life of... An Osteopath
11th October 2016
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Alex Green explains a typical day for himself as an osteopath at Bolton Osteopathic Clinic
Bolton Osteopathic Clinic has been mending the good people of Bolton for over 16 years since Alex started the clinic within St George’s Multi-Therapy Centre.
Alex is the owner, founder and principal osteopath and works in the clinic over four days. Zaheer also works in the clinic with sessions on two days in the week and alternate Saturdays.
We mostly treat people in pain, ranging all the way from twisted ankles to strained backs, worn-out knees to sore necks, tennis elbows to headaches and most other physical pain in-between.
Once we have solved the problem at the source of the pain, we work preventatively to keep people’s bodies moving properly, strengthen, stabilise and eventually optimise body function.
The most rewarding part of the job is watching people heal. To hear people say “that feels better already” is the aim of our day whether we are seeing someone long term for a persistent condition or less often for a sudden short-term injury.
Any improvement in improving people’s pain makes us happy. We love seeing people feeling better than they thought they could.
Alex’s days typically start at 08:00
- First in is a restaurant manager in his 30s with a sore shoulder / back. He saw improvement over the first five days after his initial visit but being back at work is starting to cause the pain to return.
- Next patient is an early 30s lady who injured her shoulder playing sport. It is taking a while to recover so Alex is going to write to the GP to try to get an ultrasound scan done to check if one of the muscles is actually torn.
- Then a 40 year old lady with persistent headaches comes in for her regular treatment. At the moment, without seeing the osteopath every month her headaches come back and turn into migraines. She doesn’t need to take any medication at the moment because she is having osteopathy.
- Alex saw a new baby who’s mum was worried about how ‘colicky’ they were. He sees a lot of very young children for various issues including unsettled and fretful babies, and ones that wont feed or sleep well.
- Another client for the day was an 85 year-old lady who needs regular care for her arthritic knees. She sees Alex weekly at the moment to keep her as mobile and in as little pain as possible while she waits for knee replacement surgery.
Going home after locking up the clinic soon after 6 to see his own three children, Alex is normally famished by this stage and in need of a hot drink too.
The most challenging and difficult part of our days is trying to fit everyone in when we are often back-to-back with patients. We do our best to accommodate as many people as we can and try to offer appointments the same day or the next day where possible.
It is ultimately a very rewarding job where we meet lots of new people regularly and have great fun whilst making people feel well again.
If you would like to find out any more information about Bolton Osteopathic Clinic, give them a call on 01204 361463
