Massage and osteopathy

I’ve written before about the limits of what massage can do. Massage can work wonders on soft tissue but quite often someone will come to me and it’s clear that the problem goes beyond anything I can help with. I might be able to ease the immediate pain and keep them going but if the problem is say, a misaligned rib or an unbalanced sacro-iliac joint, then the pain is only come back again pretty soon. I refer these people to my colleague Radi (pictured here) who practises from his home in Stoke Newington. Radi gets remarkable results, (which isn’t the case with all osteopaths).

Sometimes though, the combination of soft tissue massage and osteopathy works really well. For example, I had a client in Highbury recently who was in constant pain while standing up at work. The pain was really bad and he came to me begging me to do something to help him. After the first session he said he already felt so much better – perhaps 50% better – and he came again. After three sessions – and having on my advice taken up swimming – he felt almost completely better, he said, and could stand at work without a problem. Just one thing bothered him – something in his shoulder that had hurt from the beginning. I sent him off to Radi and within two sessions, this client was without pain. It’s true it took a total of five sessions, but then the client had been in pain for almost a year – I’m often surprised how long people put up with pain before seeking help.

Osteopathy can do things that massage simply can’t touch and that’s why I send so many clients to see Radi. Of course he uses all the osteopathic techniques that he has learnt but I often think there is something intuitive about his approach and it’s this that sets him apart from other osteos I’ve been to. He’s not afraid to try something new and to think very widely when looking at what is going on with the body. He shares with me, I think, a belief that the body isn’t just a mechanical being that needs ‘fixing’. 

Being a massage therapist is demanding on the body and I go to see Radi every couple of weeks for 'maintenance' - an attitude I try to instil in my clients. After all, if you owned a beautiful Rolls-Royce, you'd be super keen to keep it well serviced – so why not your body, which is far, far more valuable? 

Radi can be contacted through his website www.northlondon-osteopathy.co.uk