New to Alternative therapies?

When you walk through the door, you will have a very clear idea as to why you have come here - after all, you are paying money for treatment when mainstream medicine is largely free. So this is not just idle curiosity. If you have not used "Complementary and Alternative" (CAM) therapies before, there are some things that you need to know first...

Your symptoms do not necessarily indicate where or what the problem is

Over three quarters of the people I treat have symptoms in one part of their body which are caused by problems arising elsewhere. So I am interested not only in the symptoms you have, but also in what is happening in all of your body. One of the great strengths of CST is that we use the innate movements of the body as a means of diagnosis. If something is not moving, it is a probable cause of ill-health. And mobilising it will increase the adaptive capacity of your body (and so contribute to your recovery) even if it is not directly related to the problem. All treatments are safe (because the level of force is very small) and respectful (you do not have to remove all your clothing).

My scope of practice is wider than you would usually expect from a mainstream practitioner

I practice body-mind medicine. Unlike the popularised idea that the mind and body are separate, in fact the mind and the body are so interwoven that it is almost impossible to affect one without affecting the other - so this is not necessarily only a body-therapy. Particularly in cases of chronic/ long-term pain, there is almost always some level of psychological reaction to pain that usually increases the pain! If this is dealt with as necessary during the physical treatment, then we can get a lot more progress far more quickly. And I can teach you skills that will help to diffuse this "Central Sensitisation" effect.

Health is more important than illness!

With many conditions, there is a lot of mileage in improving the health and functioning of all the "other" parts of the body so that they can support (and even heal!) the parts that are unhealthy. So I am not necessarily going to be interested in pathology all the time. This kind of work is often subtle, but produces clinically useful effects.

This is not a dose-related treatment

Over three quarters of the people I treat have symptoms in one part of their body which are caused by problems arising elsewhere...

I find that the body responds more easily, more quickly (and as a bonus, treatments are more safe) if I work gently. i.e. in my experience, non-invasive and low impact treatments are more clinically effective than high impact, forceful treatments. If you are in pain when you come to the treatment room, it is far better tpo let me know - and so far as can be arranged we get you as comfortable as possible before we start.

Complementary is not Alternative

"Complementary" means in addition to mainstream medicine, whereas "Alternative" means something that replaces mainstream medicine. I very often provide help in cases where mainstream medicine has not been able to help. If you are concerned at all about any new symptoms, your first point of call should always be your GP.