What's the difference between an Osteopath and a Chiropractor?

We get asked this a lot – it’s difficult to answer. Both are regulated healthcare professionals who target pain and mobility issues. There are core differences in the approach to symptom relief but in the real world many of their manual techniques overlap.

Osteopaths traditionally take a holistic view of the body. In practice this means looking at the whole body, even if the patient is presenting with pain in just one small area. Osteopathic treatment can be extremely gentle and is suitable for babies and children. They use a wide range of techniques including joint mobilisation, fascia release and massage alongside more vigorous ‘adjustments’. Osteopaths train for 4-5 years and are regulated by The General Osteopathic Council.

Chiropractic care focuses more on spinal alignment and how it affects the nervous system and the messages sent to the rest of the body. They are trained in high velocity ‘adjustments’ along the spine and skeleton. Many of them also use the gentle stretching and massage techniques favoured by osteopaths. McTimoney Chiropractice is a distinct branch of chiropractic care which uses much gentler ‘adjustments’ than traditional chiropractors. Speed rather than force is preferred. Chiropractors train for 4-5 years and are regulated by The General Chiropractic Council.

So, how do you decide who to see?

In practice both osteopaths and chiropractors are capable of seeing a wide range of pain and functional complaints. Both can help acute and chronic conditions and ultimately it’s about finding a therapist that is a good fit for you who is able to adapt their many techniques to you as an individual. There are no fixed rules about when to choose one over the other but very broadly speaking if you feel you respond better to strong and firm interventions, try chiropractice first. If you feel your body has an vulnerability whether in terms of anxiety over treatment or in the physical sense of instablity / hypermobility, then we recommend you try osteopathy first.

Here at The Ambry Clinic we don’t ask our patients to pay for 10 sessions up front. We know that if the treatment is working, you’ll get promising results early on and choose to continue. If we are not getting the results we expect, we refer you on either within our clinic or to one of our trusted and recommended practitioners within Norwich.

If you have had any diagnostic scans done on any part of your body (Xray / MRI) this is really useful information for your practitioner to have. We recommend bringing a copy of any reports to your first appointment. If you’re not sure whether you need physiotherapy, chiropractice, osteopathy or acupuncture – email us with a brief outline of the problem and one of the team will contact you.

hello@theambryclinic.com