Medway Osteopathic Clinic

04/03/2026

"Taking care of sick people, inserting your life and skill into their lives, and allowing their lives and problems and tragedies into your life is the best way I know to live life to its fullest. No matter what good I have done for my patients, they have done more for me." Ray Shennan DC

03/03/2026

It's always interesting when people come in complaining about something that they don't think is in my scope of work, as though basic analysis isn't important before any work is done.
Doesn't mean anyone is always right (even wives!)
Dizzyness is often mentioned in passing.
Here's a few things considered when this happens:
What are the causes of dizzyness?
At first glance it’s a brain dysfunction so problems with the function and / or structure of the brain can cause it.
What can cause those?
Rupture of artery or vein in the brain can cause sudden onset dizzyness.
Raised intracranial pressure, distorting the brain structure as a result of failure of drainage can do the same, if slightly slower acting until it reaches a threshold level where total blockage suddenly applies.
Dropping blood pressure can do the same.
How else to affect brain function?
Toxicity, insufficient oxygen, insufficient carbon dioxide, insufficient glucose.
Insufficient oxygen could be a failure of the heart to output enough blood, obstruction of the arteries that supply the brain, failure of the lungs to transfer oxygen to the blood.
Insufficient carbon dioxide usually comes from overbreathing and blowing off too much CO2. A certain level of CO2 is needed to stimulate the arteries of the heart and central nervous system to open wide. Slight narrowing of those vessels dramatically reduces blood flow.
Insufficient glucose can come from disorders of digestion, hormonal problems (diabetes), problems with the liver.
Toxicity can be from localised infection, kidney and liver failure, sepsis and generalised tissue breakdown like seen with crush injuries and medication or other drugs.
Brain processing can be affected by all the above as well as emotions, history and habits as the brain struggles to come to terms with sensory inputs.
The eyes, middle ears and the nerves associated with them can contribute to dizzyness as well as the proprioceptive nerves that inform the brain of where the parts of the body are and what they are doing. :)

19/02/2026

I'm a classical osteopath.
That means my training emphasised the basics of my field.
In England that really meant what was taught prior to 1950 :)
Yes we had to study beyond then but bodies haven't really changed since then even if working lives have.
My job is to appreciate what your work and play does to your body, basically.
I might advise on exercise and diet (I'm part of a family that had internationals in all sorts of sports) specific to your needs.
I usually advise on cold water treatment and can bore for England on the subject of why evolution means it's good for you.
Mainly though, I pull you around and click joints.
I use a whole body approach to analyse what lies behind your problem and try to help you with that. This might not be what you think I should be doing but my excuse is I've been doing it for 43 years now.
Clicks and cracks don't fix bodies, they are there to free you up to fix yourself.
If you go out and hurt yourself again I probably didn't nag you enough to change your behaviour.

18/02/2026

The majority of patients come to me with low back pain.
The majority of those will benefit from using cold water on their backs.
NO ICE, NO HEAT.
The protocol is straightforward:
1Bowl of cold tap water.
Put a face flannel or small towel in the water, wring it out and lay it flat on the back, a little below to a bit more above the painful area.
2 minutes later take it off, dunk in the water a, wring out and repeat.
Do so for 20 minutes before bed.
2 minutes on, few seconds of while you wet it again.
This will reduce swelling while speeding up healing.
Good luck

15/02/2026

Living requires energy.
Healing requires more energy than when you are well.
The energy demands in healing vary with circumstance but involve the body, the mind and what has gone by many names: the spirit, the life force.
Determination can take you some way to be well, certainly depression doesn't help.
You frequently get worse before you get better because tissue requires more energy to repair than you may have to spare at the time.
This is why rest helps (and a light easily digested diet).

14/02/2026

I cannot cure you.
Bodies heal themselves, my job is to make them better able to do so.
I can, however, improve the general ability of your body to cope with its environment.
Age does not break you as much as people may think, but a lot of held over twists and turns make life more of a struggle than it should be as we age.
I do not give guarantees, your body is complex and reacts to treatment.
Don't wait until you have an emergency to see if I can't make you better :D

02/02/2026

apologies to all who looked for us on the website today.
The hosts had a problem.
Sorted now.
Please remember: to book an appointment please ring
01634 814700

25/12/2025

Merry Christmas

16/12/2025

Blame the patient! It's their body, they have hurt themselves by their actions or they know about the cause.
The most important question when I work is "WHY?".
Why has the body got itself into this state?
My job is to give the patient a chance to heal but that takes two of us.
Why does the problem keep coming back?
Have you changed your lifestyle since your last treatment?
If not then that's probably why.
Exercise is not all it's cracked up to be, though as we get older the value increases, but if you are sick you can't take it.
For example, if you have a cold a sweaty workout may help you shrug it off by increasing your body temperature.
If you have flu you will not be able to do anything like a workout, just moving around is exhausting.

09/12/2025

and then, after you have twisted yourself with unexpected exercise, come in and get fixed.
You MOT your car after all, but you can't trade in your body every 3 years :D

09/12/2025

Exercise is important in our more leisurely worktype.
It has always amused me that the patients I have who work in industries that require high manual lifting levels spend their free time in the gym.
C'mon deskworkers get with the program :)

2-set-2-workout training is the fast track to gains without wasting time or energy

08/12/2025

We are a private clinic, not NHS.
Patients ring when they want treatment and I book them in accordingly.
The only wait time is when the available slots that day determine or when the patient wants to come later.

You pay.

If I think you need the services of anyone else I will tell you. After that it's your responsibility.
Your GP is the gatekeeper to the NHS facilities. To get anything done in the NHS it's via your GP. This can be seen as a bit of a bottleneck but the system works when the delays allow people to heal without input. It doesn't work when you need work done quickly - that's where AandE comes in and that's why they are all so crammed.
Short bouts of osteopathy are available through the NHS but this involves the system filter and delay. It is free at point of service and they will keep copious notes.
I have never had the desire to work in the NHS - my wife was a nurse for 40 years, enough to persuade me to never want any boss but her :D