I turned up panic-stricken with my six year old son in A and E a little while ago. He was having proper breathing difficulties. I drove him through the busy town centre promising him anything from trips to the fair to “crisps later” to try to keep him happy and calm as he periodically struggled…
I turned up for my second ever meeting of the GOsC, feeling a bit like the court reporter. I was at an advantage this time: I was able to find the building, I knew there would be coffee, I had managed to find the agenda and papers on the GOsC website – (Just before the…
We start with the subject that strikes so many osteopaths with fear and fascination:- Complaints: How many were there and what did people complain about in 2014? Yes 2014 seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it. NCOR have gathered information about “causes of concerns raised about osteopaths” from iO, GOsC and the insurers. So…
Guest spot this week: Mark Andrews of Kemptown Osteopathy in Brighton has kindly allowed me to use the full version of his review of Aches and Pains (an edited version appearing in the latest “the osteopath” magazine). He did in fact put me on to this book, written by a late, great physio called Louis…
When I first became an osteopath, I remember lots of people saying “Is it mostly old people you see?”. Funnily enough, it wasn’t. I didn’t see that many elderly people, certainly not a disproportionately large number. (If anything it was disproportionately fewer). But I know why people said it. It seems to be a prevalent…
As someone who couldn’t even work Facebook nine months ago, it came as something of a shock to find I was involved in a Twitter spat with Simon Singh, one of osteopathy’s fiercest critics. What next? A public fracas with Richard Dawkins? However several emails and a long phone call later, feathers were unruffled, a…
In February of this year, 2015, a team of researchers published a report into osteopathic regulation. You can sound knowledgeable by simply mentioning it as the “McGivern research”. They specifically wanted to find out how they could help us to practise in accordance with the OPS (Osteopathic Practice Standards). It’s quite a lengthy report, and…
In order to come up with a newer, cheaper, more sensitive test for a type of cancer, I would expect that you might need a degree at the least, followed by years of immersion in your chosen field, a lucky discovery and the support of a team of researchers. But it turns out you can…
About a year ago I responded to a recruitment ad in “theosteopath” magazine for new members to the Investigating Committee. However on receiving the information pack and the application form, I realised that applying for the post was a serious and time-consuming exercise – time I couldn’t spare just then – but more importantly I didn’t seem to…
Well the first disconcerting thing to note about this edition of the osteopath is that the cover photo looks a bit like Edzard Ernst, who I recently heard talk at Eastbourne “Sceptics in the Pub.” But I think this is simply meant to be a generic patient looking expectantly at their osteopath, as theosteopath follows…
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