How to find the best London osteopath for you...

Do you want to know how to find the best London osteopath in your area?

Here's how to find an osteopath that's right for you...

People are always asking me for referrals so I thought I'd write a little something about how to find an osteopath in London. It's not hard but it can take a little effort. It's well worth putting in the time to find an osteopath that's right for you as this will make a big difference to your whole experience.

1) Ask your friends

By far the best way to find an osteopath is through a personal recommendation. There is nothing like the opinion of someone you trust when it comes to peace of mind. Ask your friends and see if anyone knows a good osteopath in your area. Ask your family and anyone else you trust who you think might be able to recommend someone.

2) Ask around in your local area

Another way to find a local osteopath is to ask people who work in healthcare or health-related industries. They will often have a list of different kinds of practitioners to give out when people ask. You can ask your GP or your local practice nurse or even the guy in your local health food store or the receptionist at the gym. This is not quite as good as a recommendation from someone you know and trust who has seen the osteopath in question themselves but it's a good place to start. Just be aware that people don't always know what they're talking about and they may even have an arrangement with the osteopath whose details they give you to get a finder's fee for referrals!

3) Look on the internet

There are lots of ways to find an osteopath on the internet. There are all sorts of online directories and a good proportion of osteopaths in London have their own websites these days. However, most of the online directories use enhanced listings where the people at the top of the list are the ones that pay to be there. This means that you are more likely to find the best business-people than the best osteopaths!!!

There is one place to look online that's impartial and lists everybody. The General Osteopathic Council has a "Find an Osteopath" section on its website. All UK osteopaths must be registered with GOsC and you can search their database by area or post-code. This may give you a lot of names to go through, especially if you're looking for an osteopath in London, but you will find links to their individual websites (if they have them) and there is no harm in calling up and asking to speak to someone before you book an appointment if you are unsure.

In my own practice, I offer a free 20 minute consultation for anyone who wants to talk about their problem and ask me questions about how I think osteopathy can help them. If you're going to put yourself in someone's hands, you need to know who they are and how they work.

What kind of osteopath is right for you?

There are lots of different styles of osteopathy and you may find that you prefer one type of treatment or that one approach is better suited to your particular needs. Again, the best thing to do is to speak to the practitioner directly about how they work. I will post something here about each of the main styles soon but the main varieties that people talk about are structural, classical and cranial osteopathy. In fact, there is probably more that we all have in common than there is that separates us and a lot of osteopaths find the whole idea of different kinds of osteopathy quite difficult.

If you want to know more about osteopathy, I have put lots of straightforward, easy to read information on my website. Here's a link: London Osteopath