Osteopaths are trained to recognise and treat many causes of pain. Osteopathy is an established system of diagnosis and manual treatment, which is recognised by the British Medical Association as a discrete clinical discipline. For the last sixty years, osteopaths have worked within a system of voluntary regulation that sets standards of training and practice.
In 1993, osteopathy became the first major complementary health care profession to be accorded statutory recognition. This has led to a General Osteopathic Council being set up, and from 1998, only those practitioners able to satisfy its educational and ethical standards are able to join this register and call themselves osteopaths. Patients now have the same safeguards as when they consult a doctor or dentist.
Osteopathy can be used to treat many conditions. This page lists some of the most commonly dealt with: