The priority area of work of our osteopathic center is working with infants, therefore (Neonatus Sanus). Our center employs the best osteopaths specializing in the treatment of infants. This is due to the fact that in 2000 (20 years ago), our medical center, the first of the non-governmental institutions, received a license for the treatment of newborns and infants. During this period, our osteopathic doctors received additional higher education in leading osteopathic schools in Europe and the USA. The undoubted advantage of our clinic, located on Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg, is that all of our osteopaths are also neurologists.
What is osteopathy for a baby?
Osteopathy is a philosophy of health based on the assertion that health is the structural integrity of the body, reflecting adequate resistance to external agents. An osteopath finds and treats structural stresses that may interfere with the body's natural self-regulation, allowing for restoration of health.
Osteopathy for newborns
The neonatal period lasts 28 days. It is during this period that examination and treatment by an osteopath is important. Since, as a result of intrauterine development and the passage of the birth canal, twists and clamps may arise and persist in the child’s body, which may later become “speed limiters” for the child’s development. Particular attention should be paid to examining the newborn’s head and eliminating skull deformation and asymmetry. This especially applies to children who had certain difficulties during childbirth.
Osteopathy for infants
All children in infancy need to be examined by an osteopath; recently this has become a standard and part of infant care procedures. Children after cesarean section, the use of epidural anesthesia during childbirth, prolonged or rapid labor, umbilical cord entanglement around the neck, and premature babies deserve special attention.
The birth of a child literally throws him into the outside world - a huge number of sensations previously unknown to the baby arise - hunger, gravity, contact of the skin with various objects, sounds, light, cold or heat, unlimited movement. All this greatly excites both the nervous and sensory systems of the child. And all these new sensations arise simultaneously, and can subject all sensory organs to significant hyperstimulation.
When should you take your baby to an osteopath? Indications for osteopathy
Osteopathic treatment for infants gives a good “start in life.” We recommend the first osteopathic treatment during the newborn period, after the 14th day of life. Also, if you have the following problems, you can contact an osteopath at any age.
Indications for osteopathy for infants:
- Sleep disturbance, restless behavior.
- Restlessness at the breast, poor nipple latch
- Regurgitation after, during feeding
- Hip dysplasia
- Slow head circumference growth and poor weight gain
- Torticollis: turning the head to one side and inability to hold the head upright after 2 months
- Delayed speech and motor development
- Intestinal colic
- Head asymmetry
- Body asymmetry
- Muscle hypertonicity
- Prematurity
- Lack of eye contact
Why is it so important to see an osteopath after these factors?
The fact is that if traces of overload after a difficult birth are not eliminated, the child’s body will be forced to grow and develop, adapting to the presence of residual tensions and stress, which can lead to inharmonious development of the body and mental development. If postpartum stress in the child’s body is not eliminated in a timely manner, they can cause future problems: sleep disturbances, delayed psycho-speech development, impaired posture, delayed motor development, hyperactive behavior.
Our osteopathy clinic is located on Vasilyevsky Island, in the very center of the historical heart of St. Petersburg, we have been treating children and adults for more than 20 years.
How is an osteopathy session for a newborn and infant performed?
At the first visit to an osteopath, a complete and detailed medical history of the child is compiled, including information about how pregnancy and childbirth proceeded, as well as information about diseases, accidents, injuries, and previous operations. After this, the osteopath conducts a detailed examination and will help identify problems in newborns such as torticollis, hip dysplasia, sacral dysplasia, and umbilical hernia.
The treatment can be so gentle that it may seem that the osteopath is doing nothing but simply placing his hands on the child. In fact, he uses a range of very complex healing approaches and techniques. The osteopath identifies areas of restriction or excessive tension in various parts of the child’s body. The selected treatment technique is applied where necessary to initiate the self-healing process inherent in each organism and eliminate the effects of stress.
Children usually enjoy the treatment process and often fall asleep during the session. However, if the tension is very high, the child may experience discomfort during treatment. This discomfort quickly passes, leaving the child relaxed. You can also work with babies during feeding, which often calms the child. There are toys and books to keep your child entertained during treatment. Parents should be prepared to entertain their child during the session.
Children respond to treatment differently. Symptoms usually go away within a few hours or days. After the session, the child may appear sleepy or even fall asleep as the dura mater and all body structures are released. A point of peace arises, which includes all the child’s possibilities for self-healing.
Introduction
Over the past two decades, a new method of treatment has appeared and developed dynamically in domestic medical practice: osteopathy. The emergence of osteopathy as a science and medical system dates back to 1874. The name of osteopathy was given by its founder, the American doctor E.T. Still (Fig. 1). Literally, osteopathy is working with the structure (of the body, individual organs, tissues). The objects of osteopathic influence are organs and tissues. A set of therapeutic technologies in the implementation of osteopathic effects is aimed at eliminating biomechanical dysfunctions, manifested in violation of the position and mobility of organs and tissues [1].
In general, giving general characteristics, it should be especially emphasized that osteopathy today is part of officially existing medicine [4, 7]. Despite the fact that the activity of an osteopath is based on a detailed knowledge of human anatomy and physiology, the philosophical approaches of osteopathy are very different from the principles that are embedded in the foundations of allopathic “medicinal” medicine, which is currently “official medicine”.
The main differences of osteopathy are: a holistic approach to the human body and the search for the root cause of the disease with its subsequent elimination. The last postulate requires clarification. In allopathic medicine, the generally accepted norm is a formalized diagnosis of pathological conditions based on a set of symptoms, followed by the determination of a set of medications using the same criteria. The prescription of medications “for diarrhea,” “for toothache,” “for blood pressure,” etc. is reminiscent of witchcraft in its worst form.
Such fundamental approaches suffer from the fact that the treatment is carried out on the effect, and not on the cause of the disease state. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that any violation of the functional activity of organs is a consequence, compensation for some other violation. For example, arterial hypertension can be the result of at least a dozen reasons. And the most common types of lesions, especially in age groups over 40 years of age: disruption of the central parts of the autonomic system, progression of systemic atherosclerosis, vertebrogenic problems of the cervical spine and the area of the cervicothoracic junction. Representatives of “drug” therapy, having access to pharmacological drugs of various types, reduce their work to a single type of medical care: prescribe a drug to normalize pressure in the vascular bed. At the same time, for all of the listed types of arterial hypertension, the same type of medications are prescribed.
Other approaches are being developed in osteopathy. All these conditions are differentiated in the process of osteopathic diagnosis and, accordingly, to relieve the listed painful conditions, an individual set of therapeutic measures is selected in accordance with the identified lesions of individual organs and tissues.
Based on the stated postulates, as well as the fact that osteopathy has its own philosophical system, which has significant differences, we can claim that osteopathy is a separate medical system. And in this case, one should declare the existence of osteopathy, not as a medical specialty, but as a separate medical system. This medical system is called osteopathic medicine.
In this aspect, it should be stated that in the structure of medical services we will find at least two more separate medical systems, whose philosophical concepts are based on principles very different from those that exist in “official” medicine. These medical systems include reflexology, which is based on the philosophical principles of “oriental medicine,” and homeopathy, which operates on the basis of philosophical principles developed by Hahnemann.
Osteopathy today is the most dynamically developing area of medical care in Russia. And the most important stage was the recognition of osteopathy as a profession [4] and a medical specialty [7].
This fact is important both for osteopaths and for the entire medical community. Firstly, this is an unconditional recognition of the merits of osteopaths in improving the health of the population; secondly, this is the recognition of osteopathic medicine as an effective treatment complex in the structure of domestic healthcare. In addition, the prerogative of the medical specialty in osteopathic activity with its further state regulation should put a barrier to various non-professional figures who do not have a medical education or do not have the necessary set of basic knowledge in osteopathy.
Advantages of treatment at the Neonatus Sanus Osteopathy Clinic
Our clinic of osteopathy and neurology on Vasilyevsky Island “Neonatus Sanus” - health from birth, has extensive practical experience in the prevention and treatment of newborns, infants and infants.
We know how and love to work with young children!
Our clinic employs experienced osteopathic doctors and neurologists. A lot of attention is paid to each child in order to understand the child, accurately assess his condition, give recommendations to parents and, if necessary, carry out effective osteopathic treatment.
In our center you can get the best examination, treatment and recommendations from leading specialists in St. Petersburg.
Is it necessary to treat physiological jaundice?
Physiological jaundice in newborns does not require treatment with medications, but you should adhere to some recommendations:
- A nursing mother needs to put her baby to her breast more often and not take long breaks between feedings. This promotes normal bowel movements in the child, and most of the bilirubin is excreted from the body in feces;
- bottle-fed babies also require frequent feeding with small portions, with mandatory supplementation with water.
Reviews of osteopathic treatment for newborns and infants
Extreme prematurity
Bogdan was born by Caesarean section at 27 weeks, weighing 800 grams. The condition was severe due to respiratory failure due to asphyxia (Apgar 2/3 points). Artificial ventilation was carried out for 7 days, the sucking reflex was absent, the child was fed through a tube for 2.5 months. He suffered from rhinopathy of prematurity, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and an ultrasound of the brain revealed hemorrhage in the ventricles of the brain. At 4 months old, Bogdan was brought to see me for the first time. During the examination, a gross deformation of the head was revealed, pronounced neurological symptoms in the form of hydrocephalic syndrome were noted, the position of the head was forced (tilt to the left and turn to the right). There was shortness of breath in the lungs. Osteopathic treatment was carried out using very gentle techniques and was aimed at improving cerebral circulation, straightening the lungs and pleural cavities. Along with osteopathic treatment, movement therapy was carried out (exercises for sitting, crawling, etc.). Mom followed all my recommendations and our efforts yielded excellent results. Neurological symptoms subsided, shortness of breath disappeared, and brain ultrasound parameters stabilized. Bogdan, with his extreme prematurity (27 weeks), develops in the same way as full-term healthy children.
review available at this link
Torticollis
Taisiya first appeared at our center at 5 months. Parents complained about the girl's restless behavior, difficulties during breastfeeding, preferential turning of the head to the right, regurgitation and sleep disturbances. During the conversation, it became known that the girl was born as a result of a full-term pregnancy, which proceeded without any special features, weighing 3400 grams. The Apgar score was 7/8 points. On the first day she was attached to the breast and sucked sluggishly. The labor was protracted, and the umbilical cord was also noted to be entwined around the neck. During the osteopathic examination, it was revealed: an asymmetrical position of the body with the head turning to the right, the pelvis together with the legs was turned to the opposite left side, spontaneous motor activity was reduced, and there was practically no turning of the head to the left in the cervical region. When examining the neck, hypertonicity of the posterior cervical muscles and asymmetry of the tone of the sternocleidomastoid muscles were revealed: the left one was much more tense than the right one. The course of osteopathic treatment consisted of 5 sessions. As a result of the treatment, tension in the muscles of the cervical spine was eliminated, the bones of the skull were balanced, and tension on the part of the dura mater was eliminated. The result of the work was the elimination of torticollis. Taisiya's condition has improved significantly. She stopped crying, due to the fact that the range of motion in the cervical spine was restored; difficulties with feeding disappeared, since she can now turn her head in both directions painlessly. She follows the rattle perfectly and has begun to turn onto her stomach on her own. In this example, we see how many problems can arise due to such a simple diagnosis as torticollis, and how well osteopathic treatment can cope with this.
review available at this link
Restless baby
At 4 months and 10 days, we first met Miron, whom his parents brought to us from the city of Norilsk. They were very worried about the child's sleep: he slept only with his mother, waking up every hour. The parents also drew our attention to the asymmetry of the child’s skull. The child was born as a result of emergency labor using epidural anesthesia. In the first days of life, sluggish sucking was noted, and post-hemorrhagic manifestations were revealed during an ultrasound of the brain. During the osteopathic examination, asymmetry of the skull was indeed revealed, a tilt of the head to the left and rotation to the right was noted, and pronounced muscle hypertonicity was noted. As a result of osteopathic treatment, the existing disorders were eliminated and Miron’s condition improved significantly, he became calmer, his sleep returned to normal, and a leap in motor development appeared.
review available at this link
WHAT PROBLEMS DOES A MANUAL THERAPIST DEAL WITH?
A manual therapist is a specialist who has received a higher medical education in traumatology or neurology, and additional qualifications in manual therapy. The doctor influences the source of pain through significant mechanical techniques.
Manual therapy comes to the rescue in the following cases:
- joint dislocations, subluxations;
- muscle strains;
- pain in the back, neck;
- joint diseases - arthritis, arthrosis;
- contractures of the limbs due to neurological disorders, after sports injuries;
- recovery period after fractures;
- displacement of intervertebral discs;
- headache;
- pain in the back, neck;
- restriction of movements in the back, neck, limbs, and shoulder girdle.
The specialist directs efforts to eliminate specific violations in a specific area.