St David's Osteopathic Clinic

Gardening

2008-04-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

The gardening "season" is with us again. Well, I mean the longer days at least, and the valiant attempts by both gardeners and plants to produce a harvest of sorts before the other inhabitants of our garden thwart us in a fiendish variety of ways.
As usual the Blackthorn winter brings us cold weather, ie snow as usual, which means frustration for gardeners, who always want it to be warmer than it is. ADVICE: keep warm when you're outside. It's all too easy to work up a sweat and then get cold in the wind. That often leads to back problems. And try to divide your tasks up so you don't attempt to do too much at once. Fatigue and cold is not a good combination!

Book table

2008-04-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Thanks again to everyone who has brought books in, and those who've bought them!
Our recent support has been to a charity called Mobility India, which helps people with disabilities, supplying prostheses, training etc to the poor in India (£120) and to the Devon Wildlife Trust (£80). Our charity of the moment is Rokpa, which supports Tibetan healthcare and educational projects in Tibet. The UK branch of Rokpa is based on Samye Ling Tibetan monastery in Scotland.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

2007-12-21T10:56:00.000-08:00

Our clinic will be open on Christmas Eve, Monday, then on Thursday through to Saturday as normal.

New Year's week we'll be open every day except for Tuesday.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone from the team!

Cerebral Palsy research project

2007-10-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

The Cerebral Palsy research trial funded by Cerebra, and organised by the Peninsular Medical School, Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Osteopathic Centre for Children is still running. We are part of the Devon end of the trial which will be recruiting new children until next Spring.
The Peninsular Medical School has some interesting information on this exciting project.

Who do we treat?

2007-09-29T04:23:00.000-07:00

It often seems to surprise people when we claim to treat problems other than low back pain or other spinal mishaps, so I thought it might be useful to analyse, briefly, the symptoms of the patients of one of our practitioners over the last fortnight.

Neck 22
Headache/pain 9
Shoulders 6
Thoracic/rib 4
Lumbar spine 14
Disc involvement (+sciatica) 6
Hips 1
Knees 2
Stress 16
Emotional/psychiatric 4
Post RTA multi area symptoms 4
Ears 3
Throat/swallowing 1
Cardiac (post operative & angina) 3
Babies - colic 3
Babies - plagiocephaly 1
Asthma 1
Multiple sclerosis 2
Muscular dystrophy 1
Parkinsons 1
Cerebral palsy 1
Fibromyalgia 1
ME 1
Rheumatoid arthritis 2
Osteo arthritis 2
Post-operative problems (scarring/adhesions) 2
Ovarian 1
Abdominal/bowels 1
No specific symptoms/maintenance 7
Dogs 1
So although spinal problems are the most significant issues for many(about 40%), people come to us with many other types of conditions, and often we can help. Most people will have had previous medical help or advice with these things which has either not helped enough or has caused other problems.

Emergency telephone number

2007-07-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

Osteopaths from all over Exeter have been co-operating to create an emergency telephone number for weekends and bank holidays, when most of our practices and clinics are shut. This number, 07014 223 466, will be answered by osteopaths working on a rota, to give advice and possibly treatment if circumstances allow. Our own involved osteopath is David Stainer-Smith.

This does not of course change our normal phone arrangements. As we are open on Saturdays already, patients who need treatment or advice can still get help on our usual number (o1392 221321) on Saturdays.

Holiday snap.

2007-04-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

OK, by popular request here's a pic of one of our intrepid osteopaths pretending to go native on a bedouin horse. That's at Petra in Jordan (at Easter).

Spring 2007

2007-03-31T11:12:00.001-07:00

The year is proceeding at frightening speed. Our clinic however is proceeding smoothly, steered competently by our wonderful reception staff, Suzie and Sue. This year Warwick has visited his daughter in Australia and has been raving about the wonders of Oz, Paul has had a great time in Robin Hood's Bay (Yorks) with his family, and has been wrestling with ongoing paediatric osteopathy for his cpd. Colin has been continuing with Biodynamics of cranial osteopathy (also cpd). And the research trial of osteopathy for children with cerebral palsy continues apace (see below). We're all looking forward to a short break for Easter, and hope the weather warms up again soon!

Bonnie gets her certificate

2007-02-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

As some of you might know, Bonnie, Colin's Scottish Terrier, has been going to Lapford Dog Club, for her version of Continuous Professional Development,(CPD), which we all do of course.

On Wednesday evening she passed her first exams, which she's very excited about.

The monks can't be wrong!

2007-02-07T14:11:00.000-08:00

Our book table

2007-01-21T05:52:00.000-08:00

Our waiting room book table, where we sell donated books for 50p for charity, is still doing well.
Contributions over the last year have gone to Hospicecare in Exeter (£139.12), Practical Action (76.25), Rokpa (£102.17) and Devon Wildlife (£81.59).
Practical Action is a small charity that provides low-tech solutions for basic problems the poorest communities in the world suffer from (eg animal shelters for the winter in the High Andes, floating vegetable plots in Bangladesh, donkey ploughs in arid parts of Africa...)
Rokpa is a Tibetan charity providing healthcare and education in Tibet, Nepal and Zimbabwe.
Thank you to everyone who contributed books, and to those who bought them.

Our man in the field

2007-01-16T05:54:00.000-08:00

David Stainer-Smith, flanker for Wessex first team in the Devon/Cornwall league, shown here stemming the tide of a St Austell attack. Wessex won 48 - 12.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-09T12:53:00.000-08:00

After a rather exciting time around Christmas (for Colin at any rate - transported off to Venice for a surprise 60th birthday treat), the clinic returns to normal.....
....or does it? Warwick's turn next, and he's off to Australia for 3 weeks, returning fresh and tanned in early February. Colin, Paul and David will provide cover for his patients during this time, trying to control their envy as the rain pours down, wondering if he'll abscond for ever....

Cerebral Palsy research project

2006-12-13T13:41:00.000-08:00

The Osteopathic Centre for Children in London has joined the Peninsula
Medical School here in Exeter and UCL's Great Ormond Street's
Hospital for Children in London to research the value of cranial osteopathy in treating
children with cerebral palsy. We're very pleased to part of this
undertaking in the south west, with colleagues in Torbay and Plymouth.
Cerebra, the charity for children with cerebral palsy, is providing the funds for this project. For more information on Cerebra go to: http:// www.cerebra.org.uk/
For more information on the research project go to UCL's press release: http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/pressoffice/pressrelease_00483

Our new man

2006-12-13T13:34:00.000-08:00

David Stainer-Smith has joined us recently.
His interests in rugby and other extreme sports
will obviously fill a gap...

2006-12-11T06:06:00.000-08:00

Colin Crewdson.
Colin in his study, not looking studious.

2006-12-11T06:01:00.000-08:00

Warwick Downes.
Warwick, pictured here looking sceptical in the kitchen, has another life in the world of music and dance.

Osteopathic partners

2006-12-11T05:54:00.000-08:00

Paul Thompson perching on his desk. Paul has
the comfy room, with tv, music and loads of toys.

more of us..

2006-12-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

Occasional visitors to our clinic are Chloe the lurcher (shown here) and Bonnie, the Scottish terrier. They find life in the clinic a bit dull.

I didn't mention Rose in my last entry! How could I forget?
Rose Pell is a counsellor who works with us on an ad hoc basis, mostly with
clients who've suffered trauma in road accidents. For more information on Rose's work go to /www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/dcsc/educadvi/roadsupport.htm
(If the link doesn't work copy and paste on to your browser.)

Birthday

2006-12-09T09:33:00.000-08:00

Our clinic is 21 years old this autumn. So perhaps birth day is wrong; nothing else sounds right.
Colin Crewdson established the clinic in a basement room in Boxall & Freeman's orthodontic
practice in Richmond Road, near the clocktower in Exeter, sharing the lower two floors

with Brian and Penny Brown, chiropodists and podiatrists. A modest start in the autumn of 1985, but there are one or two patients who have remained with us since those (perforce) relaxed days.

Changes to the clinic occurred gradually, a move upstairs (perhaps a little too close to the overhead loos), teaming up with other practitioners (Dr Peter Bissen - homeopathy, Erica Read - postural integration, Cathy Jenkins - hypnotherapy) and eventually with other osteopaths
(Warwick Downes and Sharon McDaid).

In 1995 Colin, Warwick and Sharon joined forces with Jennie Dallas and Simon King, who run the Clinic of Chinese Medicine, to take on space in BBC Radio Devon's premises on St David's Hill, where we still work. A few personnel changes have ocurred since then, naturally: Colin and Warwick have been joined by osteopaths Paul Thompson (our third partner) and David Stainer-Smith. Other colleagues are Lorraine Findlay (homeopath), Angie Avis (counsellor and psychotherapist), and our invaluable receptionists Suzie Brown and Sue Ebanks. Jennie and Simon in the Chinese Clinic remain the other pillar in our establishment.