What's the difference between Sports massage and Osteopathy?

The world of manual therapy may appear the same if you're new to it all, so how do you decide which therapy is the most appropriate to best take care of your body? I've been also qualified in sports massage for 12 years so I hold no bias here. I live in Berrylands, Surbiton. 

Let's see the core differences between how massage and how osteopathy can help you.

As an overview, the main difference between all therapies is your practitioner. Different training is provided for different therapies. A massage therapist in a beauty clinic has far less training than a sports massage therapist, who will have less training than an osteopath!

Massage

The title Massage Therapist in the UK is not protected. This means anyone can call themselves a massage therapist. Therefore, the training for massage varies significantly. For example, a beautician may take a 2-5 day course as part of their overall qualification and often learn a set routine based around relaxation. The techniques are often light, smoothing over the skin and incorporating blends of aromatic oils. The therapists knowledge of anatomy and understanding what is happening to the body is minimal.

There are many styles of massage and therapists; from holistic massage therapy, deep tissue massage, no hands massage, remedial massage, sports massage and more so no governing body regulates them. Voluntary registers exist, yet no specific obligation lies for a massage therapist to register so some will "do their own thing" after training – possibly not so safe!

I provide sports massage in Berrylands, which is great for active patients that need a bit of muscle relaxation. Sports massage will only directly effect the musculature of the body, whereas Osteopathy treats all soft tissues including muscles, joints, nerves, ligaments, tendons etc. Osteopathy therefore is more suitable for anyone in pain, including anyone with sports injuries as Osteopaths may be able to provide greater pain relief if addressing more tissue types than sports massage does.
Often, if you go for a sports massage, the therapist only treats the area of pain, rubbing the sore part so it may feel better temporarily, but the pain then builds up more quickly again after, so you need a lot more care, which is expensive! Osteopathy is generally more holistic than sports massage in the sense that Osteopaths examine connecting areas to the region of complaint too ; Osteopaths view the body as a whole and are aware that the root cause of your presenting complaint may in fact be elsewhere in your body . I have a home practice in for massage, Berrylands and Osteopathy, Berrylands.

Osteopathy

On the flipside, osteopathy is a regulated profession, and no therapist may call themselves an osteopath without registering with the General Osteopathic Council yearly. All osteopaths are trained to a minimum of BSc degree level, spending 4-5 years in university. This mean osteopaths have to practice with a code of conduct by their governing body, that sets practice standards, and complete a minimum number of Continuous Professional Development hours to keep training up to date.

Sometimes pain occurs from a region that isn't actually where we feel achy/pain. Simply rubbing over the surface with a basic massage will temporarily help, but to truly relieve your pain you need to address the root cause of the issue. Osteopaths are trained to identify this and use a variety of treatment techniques. They may use massage, including holistic and remedial, but likely also incorporate specialised techniques such as myofascial release and neuromuscular techniques. Therefore, treatments are tailored to your specific needs rather than following a set routine. Osteopaths treat an array of musculoskeletal conditions, in the whole body, from recovery of sports injuries through to working on stress relief and that "feel good" factor!

Osteopaths use their massage skills alongside other techniques to help improve joint mobility  and your overall flexibility, along with looking at factors that may be causing or prolonging your pain such as posture, lifestyle and even your mento-emotional state! Yes, your thoughts can have a massive impact on how your body's physical state is, and osteopathy recognises that good health is comprised of more than just your physical health.