Three Interpretations In The Room
In every treatment there are three interpretations of a patient presentation.
The patient tells us what they think is going on. This is often a description of the symptoms and the location of the discomfort.
The practitioner, based on the physical examination along with the patient’s interpretation, makes an informed guess of what they think is likely to be going on.
The patient’s body will be communicating exactly what is going on with the patient.
The patient’s report is important for insight into how they are feeling towards their presenting symptoms but also there can very likely be a local issue.
The practitioner, as much as possible, should remain objective. Yes, they should do all the appropriate examinations to make sure there isn’t anything that needs further investigation, but they shouldn’t also think along the lines of “fix this part” because the body is one unit.
One of the key differences with the Classical Osteopathy approach is that we treat what we find. This means we are responding to the body’s needs at that moment. It is important to mention that this is in the context of the patient’s underlying “lesion pattern”. An oversimplified explanation of a lesion pattern is the way the body has adapted to all the stress’ and strains over the duration of life. These adaptations represent the body doing its best to adapt to its current internal and external environment.
The day-to-day fluctuations in our internal and external environment is reflected in the reactions of the body. This is what informs the practitioner of what the body needs to be able to adapt to these fluctuations. And amongst this, we are also gently nudging at the underlying lesion pattern and creating a small change so the body can find a better balance with time.