Before your initial consultation, you will be sent a link to a medical history document to fill in. This document is completely secure and automatically attaches to your secure patient notes when you send it back in. This allows your osteopath to quickly get an overview of your medical history and your current health which is important in allowing us to start the process of finding the cause of your symptoms and treating you as an individual.

 

Your first appointment is slightly longer to further support this, as it allows your osteopath the time to discuss with you what brings you in, conduct a thorough examination and carrying out any manual testing required. For examination clarity, your osteopath will ask if you are comfortable removing your outer layers of clothing as it allows them to see signs of inflammation along with muscular or skeletal changes. With this information, your osteopath will discuss with you what they think the cause of your symptoms is (diagnosis) and what they recommend regarding a treatment approach. They will also be able to outline a prognosis, however, they will have a clearer indication of this once they have seen you for a follow-up appointment and how you have responded to the first treatment and any associated lifestyle modifications or exercises.

 

If you require osteopathic care for an injury we can complete the ACC paperwork at your appointment. If your osteopath feels that you require a referral to another health care provider in order to get the best treatment for your presentation, they will discuss this with you. Katikati Osteopathy believes that in some situations shared care between two or more health care providers is the best way to support people in their recovery. This will be discussed with you if we think you would benefit from also having support from – for example; your GP, massage therapist, acupuncturist, physiotherapist or specialist involved.