If you’re suffering from a muscle injury or back pain, chances are you’ll be looking for a specialist to help alleviate your pain. But choosing between a chiropractor, a physiotherapist or an osteopath can be confusing.

You’re choice of discipline will probably depend on which approach you are most comfortable with. Here’s our guide to the differences between each one.

Chiropractic

Chiropractic focuses on the manipulation (or “adjustment”) of the spine in order to enhance the general health of muscles and bones. These adjustments pay particular attention to spinal alignment, the skull and the pelvis in order to improve the nervous system by removing stress.

While your visit to the chiropractor might be for the relief of neck pain or back pain, the visit will usually begin with an examination of the range of movement of your body. You’ll also be asked about your medical history.

The chiropractor will then adjust your body. This means manipulating your spine, by turning your body into very specific positions and then applying pressure to it. You might feel your musculoskeletal system crack or pop, but relax, this is quite common.

Osteopathy

Osteopathic treatment uses techniques such as stretching and massage for general treatment of the soft tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments) along with mobilisation of specific joints.

Your osteopath will begin with an examination, and will look at both passive and active movements of your arms or legs. Osteopaths take a holistic (or “whole body”) approach to treatment, so your practitioner may look at other parts of your body, as well as the area that is troubling you. For example, if you have a sore knee, your osteopath may also look at your ankle, pelvis and back, as these areas are all connected to the knee joint.

Your osteopath will offer advice to help you manage your condition between treatments, which will probably involve exercises to do at home or work.

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy is used to aid recovery and rehabilitation from all forms of injury. Physiotherapy treatment is usually quite gentle. Techniques commonly used by physiotherapists are joint mobilisation, soft tissue massage, trigger point therapy, ultrasound and TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation).

These are combined with a rehabilitative program of stretching and strengthening exercises, which you need to complete at home.

Some things to keep in mind

• The most common procedure performed by chiropractors is spinal manipulation to relieve stress,

• Physiotherapy treats a lot of sports injuries as well as rehabilitation from injury,

• Osteopathy sees disease as the result of the relationship between anatomy and the body,

• Each profession makes claims based on its aims and methods, which you can research further online.

No matter your injury, you should do your research before making an appointment to make sure you choose the right treatment for your individual situation. Talk to friends and family for recommendations, or research online for more information.