Chelsea Natural Health Clinic

We are not interested in your headache

by Craig Coman of Chelsea Natural Health Clinic, Fulham Rd, London, SW10

Find the cause of your problem….

Why? Because your headache is only the symptom. To get a different result in life you need a different approach – that is a principle of life. I am going to say something that may sound whacky but here goes…. your symptom (pain, signal, sign) is NEVER the problem. Now I know you should never use the word never, but that is my belief. AND….. The reason alternative medicine will never compete with orthodox or western medicine is because to take a pill or potion you do not need to change anything.

This clinic has been running since 1991 and although it changed location and name last year the health problems we see through the door remain constant. I myself like to see a variety of challenges because it keeps it interesting – infertility, digestive problems, children, low vitality are always more challenging than an ankle injury. They may in fact be related but that does not fit our western concept of everything fitting into a box that matches a piece of research, meaning it is proven. The way to find the cause will be what I call ‘peeling the onion’ – looking into the layers to find evidence and clues as to what the causes might be and from there a resolution is possible. A headache is not really a diagnosis, it is just a label to tell you the symptom the patient is complaining about and the reason they came through your door. The Osteopathic criteria has five categories that allow understanding and a clear path for treatment, these are:

1. Aetiology – or the cause if known. This may be an accident or lifting something heavy for example. “My back pain started as I was lowering the fridge into the car”, “ I felt something go….” Often the cause is unknown e.g. “I just woke with a sore neck this morning”.
2. Tissues causing symptoms – this helps you clarify whether it is muscle, ligament, vascular, organ etc. As Osteopaths we are trained to treat the different tissues but we first need to know what tissue is in trouble. A headache that is pounding suggests it is a vascular headache caused by the blood supply being compromised. This could be through dehydration, neck tension etc.
3. Predisposing factors – this is an important area because it tells you why and what led to a problem. Sometimes difficult to distinguish but very useful information because once someone knows what they did to make it happen they can avoid that in the future. If someone understands that their headache is caused by dehydration then they know they need to drink more – simple.
4. Maintaining factors – this is also extremely useful and often predisposing and maintaining factors are synonymous. If not drinking enough water led to a headache then the same reason will keep the headache from resolving itself.
5. Pathology – this is when tissues and cells are changing and is what we call a disease process or pathology. This is when the condition is getting serious and is always related to toxicity.

These criteria can also be used in any area of life. Why not try them and see if they work?

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Women’s healthcare and complementary medicine by Jan Murphy MRSS at Chelsea Natural Health Clinic, Fulham Rd, SW10

According to Shiatsu Therapist and Bodyworker, Jan Murphy, simple steps – including gentle complementary therapies – can be of positive help in treating problems such as impotence, pre-menstrual syndrome and menopausal symptoms.

We all know that improving our diet, giving up smoking and taking moderate exercise is good for us. All these can have a substantial impact on common women’s health problems. The trouble is, most of us are too busy, too wound up and too stressed out to stick to good resolutions – even when our doctors tell us that would improve our health.

What’s more, stress itself can cause these miserable conditions. So stress leads to the very problems we get stressed about. It’s Catch 22.

At the Chelsea Natural Health Clinic, Jan Murphy offers her clients a combination of Shiatsu, Japanese Bodywork, Nutritional advice, self-help and free advice.

Shiatsu has been demonstrated to improve endometrial circulation – a factor in infertility – while supplements such as vitamin B6 and magnesium can have a positive effect on PMS. Techniques like yoga, meditation and visualization can even help prevent the typical hot flushes suffered by many women going through the menopause.

Jan Murphy says:

‘Complementary therapies, such as these have several benefits.

‘Of themselves, they can improve general fitness and well-being. They also make it easier for patients to do the hard things, like change their diet, give up coffee or alcohol, and stop smoking.

‘What’s more, some, such as Shiatsu, may directly affect how well conventional treatments are going to work.

‘I am convinced that the way forward for women’s healthcare is an integrated approach, looking after the whole person instead of relying on modern technological medicine to do its magic on a totally passive client. I ask the question, how many women want to be passive anyway?”