Listening. Aligning. Integrating.
Facilitating your Healing.
Frequently Asked Questions
• What is Osteopathy?
• How does Osteopathic treatment differ from Physiotherapy, Chiropractic, Athletic Therapy and/or Massage?
• What can I expect from a treatment?
Click here for this information on our Osteopathy page.
• How are you protecting your patients and yourself during COVID-19?
• How long is a course of treatment, and how often should I come in?
Osteopathic treatment is designed to find the problem, fix it, and leave it alone. The intent is to never keep patients longer than necessary; you won’t need to come in forever for the same issue if you are feeling better, or if you are not seeing any results. As Osteopathic practitioners however, we do need some time to get to know your body and how it will respond to treatment; a good benchmark is four sessions to see whether this will work for you, whether it might need more time, or if you are already feeling better.
Typically, we schedule patients with 1 to 2 weeks between treatments to start. This allows the body time to integrate the treatment as you go about your daily life. Allowing too much time between treatments, may allow too much of the structural progress made last time to revert back. Allowing not enough time between treatments might overwhelm your body and be counterproductive. Once there are positive changes being made, you and your Osteopathic practitioner will decide how frequent your treatments should be.
• Do I need to be referred by a doctor?
No, you do not need a referral to see an Osteopathic practitioner, however, we do request that you get your primary care physician’s clearance for manual therapy if you have any pre-existing injuries or conditions.
• Do you use X-rays, ultrasound, electrotherapy, acupuncture, or any other form of prescriptive exercise in treatment?
Osteopathic Manual Therapy does not apply the use of any adjuncts. An Osteopathic practitioner instead, relies on their developed palpation, structural diagnosis, and thorough understanding of how anatomical structures relate to one another. This way of treating allows an Osteopathic practitioner greater freedom in designing treatments specific to each individual. The Osteopathic practitioner will assess and reassess the relationship between structures throughout a treatment, looking at the pattern of movement both globally (as a whole) and more locally (specific regions), ensuring that we are constantly reacting to your body as a dynamic unit of function in that particular moment in time.
• What can I do on my own in order to get better faster?
Once people have made the decision to improve their health, we understand they are often very determined to do everything they can in order to support their healing. It is often the case however, that stretching or exercises at home may prevent the body from taking on the treatment as quickly, therefore potentially needing more sessions than necessary. Through structural adjustment, Osteopathic practitioners work to set up your body for success for the long term and we have found that taking some time off from activity is usually the best thing you can do during this time. Apart from everyday use, trying to avoid problematic posture and exercises, and getting in a walk as often as possible, we usually leave it up to the body to do what it does best, working to heal itself. Typically we ask all patients to avoid vigorous exercise for 24 hours post-treatment, however this will be considered on an individual basis.
• My sessions with my massage therapist or other bodyworker are usually 60 minutes; why are your follow-up sessions only 30 minutes?
Osteopathic practitioners charge for their treatment, not for the amount of time spent assessing/treating. By utilizing our knowledge of interconnected anatomical structures, and using what we call “long leverage” when delivering treatments, this allows for a more total-body approach in less time. Although very gentle, this long lever can be quite taxing on the body, as we “collect” more anatomy between the lever and the point at which we are trying to affect change. An example of this is when you hug your knees to your chest attempting to stretch/massage your lower back; from a collective mechanics perspective, the soft tissue between your spine and your legs pulls the bones of the lumbar spine into a flexed position and you are actually affecting everything, including all the muscles, fascia, blood vessels and nerves between yours legs and your spine.
Even using shorter leverage (by directly treating the structure we are attempting to make a change to, such as working directly on the lumbar spine), it can be overwhelming for certain patients, as those areas can often be quite tender. In our experience, treating this way for longer than 30 minutes can overtax the nervous system and cause undesired soreness and fatigue after the treatment. Since each treatment is tailored to that individual on that day, it is easy to ensure that we do not make more changes than your body can handle.
• What should I wear to a treatment?
We ask that you please wear non-restrictive or loose clothing such as t-shirts and sweatpants, or anything that you would wear to work out in. This helps to better assess what your body is doing without the restriction of movement that certain items of clothing may provide. There is a washroom where you can change if you are unable to do so prior to your appointment, but we do ask that you arrive with time to do so before the start of your appointment.
If wearing appropriate clothing is not possible, we would not turn you away! We can make it work with whatever you are wearing.
• Does insurance covers Osteopathy treatments?
OHIP unfortunately does not cover Osteopathic treatment, however, most extended health insurance benefit plans do provide some amount of coverage for Osteopathic care. Please check with your provider, as all plans are different.
Integrating Osteopathy is a member of Osteopathy Canada (OSTCAN) and the Ontario Osteopathic Association (OOA), both of which are in good standing with all insurance providers in Canada. If you do have coverage for Osteopathy, it will likely work here.
• Do you do bill my insurance company directly?
Currently we do not provide direct billing, however we will issue you a receipt after every session with your practitioner’s billing number so that you can run your claim through your insurance provider.
• What are your fees for your treatments?
Initial Assessment and Treatment (45-60 minutes): $130.00*
Follow Up Treatment (30 minutes): $75.00*
*HST Included. Please note that there are a limited number of Community Treatments offered on a sliding scale if you are not covered by insurance or are in an otherwise precarious position. Please email integratingosteo@gmail.com to inquire before booking if you feel this could be right for you.