Body Balance Osteopathic Clinic – Educating & Empowering Patients to Live Pain Free Lives

Body Balance Osteopathic Clinic is a top-rated osteopathy practice that works with patients to relieve their pain, increase their movement, and improve their overall health by educating and empowering them. The clinic was founded on the belief that everyone can live a healthy happy and pain free life. Body Balance has developed a unique approach to recovery by combining the benefits of hands-on treatment with evidence-based exercise rehabilitation. Founder and Director Sean Walker spoke to Herts Review about the clinic and what he set out to achieve.
 
Body Balance’s mission is to teach people how to self-manage pain. Through education, it is creating the awareness that having pain and injury does not imply that it will last forever or that one should limit themselves and not pursue their goals. “Pain can be managed and treated. I come across a lot of patients that attribute their pain to a particular event or situation. Our approach is to ask the right questions and get as much information as possible out of them, answer their questions and recommend treatment”.
 
Sean’s had a unique route into Osteopathy practice. “I was an avid sports person from a young age. Sports was my passion. I played lots of sports but mainly rugby at various levels. I had a bad injury which stopped me from playing. I was asked by my GP to see a Physiotherapist through the NHS who ultimately suggested that I should stop playing rugby at the level I was. I felt the decision was made too quickly. I eventually came across an Osteopath who had played rugby at a high level and had a big emphasis on rehabilitation”.
 
From that point, Sean developed an interest in osteopathy as it combined his desire to help other people for which pain has cut down their dreams and aspirations through a lack of awareness or misinformation. “I did more research and my interest piqued in osteopathy. I generally like helping people, so training as an osteopath has given me that opportunity. If I can stop as many people as possible from giving up on their dreams and aspirations as a result of pain, then I will be happy I have done a good job”.
 
Sean completed his training at the European School of Osteopathy. Following his training he worked as an Osteopath initially with the National Health Service (NHS) and then with various osteopathic clinics in Watford, Luton, and St Albans. The desire to provide a different kind of service led him to open his own osteopathy practice Body Balance Osteopathic Clinic in St Albans.
 
“I question everything. I encourage people to do their research and ask questions. I encourage my clients to ask many questions. There are loads of information out there and we as practitioners have a duty to educate and inform and reduce all the disinformation”. The multidisciplinary clinic covers osteopathy, sports massage, medical acupuncture, professional training, and nutritional advice.
 
Osteopathy sounds very technical and many people may not know the difference between an Osteopath, Chiropractor or Physiotherapist. “We have some similarities in that we all treat musculoskeletal pain conditions and are all allied health professionals. However, we have specific training in our respective fields. Typically, Chiropractors treat pain related problems using the manipulation/adjustment of the spinal joints. Physiotherapists help people affected by injury or pain through movement, exercise and manual therapy while Osteopaths try to restore the normal function of the body through treatment of the joints and muscles to help the body heal itself, without use of drugs where possible”.
 
“Our treatment is mainly through education, advice and empowering people to self-manage their pain. We also work on other parts of the pain system. There is no doubt we may use techniques of a physiotherapist or chiropractor but we retain the philosophy of Osteopath. You can rely on us to provide the information you need to help you get better. So, Osteopaths sit somewhere in between physios and chiropractors. If you are having pain and not sure what to do call a clinic for advice. You can speak to your GP and you are also allowed to self-refer”.
 
Body Balance Clinic is currently undergoing re-branding and repositioning. “We are altering the way we provide our services by focusing more on education and evidence-based treatment. We are revamping our website and all our marketing communications to reflect this. We are regulated by the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) so we must continue to abide by the laws and must conduct ourselves the right way. It is important we retain the ethical standards while growing our practice”.
 
“Presently, I work with a General Practitioner, a Cognitive Behaviour Therapist and Nutritional Therapist, we will be looking to expand our skills base and bring on more specialists to improve our range of services on offer. This means we can deal with a wide range of pain management issues with our clients. So, we will be looking to expand the team over the next 24 months as we anticipate that our interactive marketing campaign and rebranding will get us to full capacity”.
 
Sean confirms the clinic is open to patients as they are exempted from governments covid-19 lockdown regulations as they are allied care providers. “Face to face consultations are on-going. We use PPE, clean, and disinfect as well as abide by social distancing. The safety of our patients and colleagues is priority.  Also, NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines have asked GPs to prescribe less medical solutions to patients in pain and encourage them to use other methods. So, we expect more referrals from GPs especially with the impact the lockdown is having to people’s physical attributes while staying at home all day or working from home”.
 
At Body Balance, the team have a goal of reducing the amount of disinformation about pain. “Of course, our colleagues may take a commercial approach to treatment however we want to educate, inform and get people back to their normal life. If we do a good job with our patients, they are bound to come back for other issues or recommend us. For us ethical growth is the key”.
 
Looking for a first-class treatment for pain then contact Body Balance Osteopathic Clinic here.