What is Osteopathy?
Osteopaths are highly trained healthcare professionals with a four-year Bachelors or Masters degree (B.Ost or M.Ost), specialising in the musculoskeletal (MSK) system. They assess, diagnose, and treat a wide range of conditions affecting the muscles, joints, and bones.
Osteopathy is one of the 14 Allied Health Professions (AHPs) and is recognised as a form of primary healthcare, meaning you can see an Osteopath without a GP referral.
Using manual therapy and other gentle, non-invasive techniques, Osteopaths can help to relieve pain, improve mobility, and support the body’s natural ability to heal. Treatment focuses on restoring balance, easing muscle tension, and enhancing overall function.
Osteopathy takes a holistic approach, rather than only addressing the symptoms, your Osteopath will consider how the movement and function of your whole body may be contributing to pain or injury. This helps promote long-term musculoskeletal health.
Treatment may include stretching, soft tissue massage, joint mobilisation, andmanipulation, along with personalised advice on lifestyle, posture, ergonomics,exercise, and movement to support recovery and prevent recurrence.
Osteopathy FAQ’s
-
No, referral is not required for Osteopathy treatment. You can book via our online booking page or call us on 07712196105.
-
We always recommend coming in whatever you feel most comfortable in. If you are coming in with an ankle, knee or hip injury, shorts can be helpful. If you are coming in with neck or back pain we will usually ask you to remove your t-shirt so we can see your spine. If you are uncomfortable removing clothing, we can modify our treatment to accommodate you.
-
No, Osteopathy shouldn’t be painful. We use a range of techniques such as; soft tissue massage, passive joint mobilisation, joint manipulation, PNF stretching (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) and rehabilitation exercises. We will always check in with you and ask you to tell us if it’s causing pain. Our aim is to calm things down, rather than provoke the issue, so we like to keep our treatments as pain-free as possible.
-
Osteopaths undergo 4 year university training and must be registered with the General Osteopathy Council (GOsC) to be allowed to legally practice in the UK. The university degree is either a Bachelors of Osteopathy (B.Ost) or a Masters of Osteopathy (M.Ost).
-
Your first Osteopathy session is 60 minutes, this includes the consultation and treatment, if it is appropriate to treat. Your follow-up session can be 60 minutes or 45 minutes, your Osteopath will discuss what they think you need.
-
This is completely dependent on what pain or injury you have. Your Osteopath will recommend what they think is necessary and provide you with education and rehabilitation to do at home between sessions to help speed up your recovery between appointments. Usually we see our patients once every 2 weeks and then gradually move to once a month and then the patient is either discharged or may like to come back every 2-3 months for maintenance.
-
There is a common misconception that Osteopaths only treat backs, however Osteopaths treat the whole body. We see patients with shoulder impingement, hamstring injuries, tennis elbow, Achilles tendinitis, jaw discomfort, migraines and so on. We treat the musculoskeletal system so any muscle, tendon, ligament or bone!
-
Unfortunately, we do not currently have changing facilities at Nellie Studio. If you have an Osteopathy or massage appointment you will be able to use the treatment room to get changed.
-
Yes, we have a car park behind the building. This car park is for patients only. We will not be offering this car park for the Pilates classes as we share the parking spaces with the other businesses in the building and spaces are limited. There are plenty of street parking spaces on Albertbridge road or Templemore Avenue.
-
We have a 12-hour cancellation policy for Osteopathy and massage appointments. If you do not cancel before this window, you will be charged the full fee for your appointment. We have to keep this consistent for all of our clients to make it fair.

