25 Years of Back Pain

Berkhamsted Osteopaths is celebrating 25 years of helping local residents with a wide variety of musculoskeletal symptoms from tension headaches to foot problems and sports injuries, as well as common back and neck pain. But Tim and Juliet Hanwell, who first opened the doors to their practice in March 1997, are reporting a rise in patients turning up with back pain as a result of working from home.

‘Spending so much time working at a screen, often at the kitchen or dining room table, means that it is vital that chairs, desks and computers are positioned correctly, and people take regular breaks,’ says Tim, who also provides workstation assessments via home visits or videocall.

Before opening in Berkhamsted, Tim and Juliet had worked together in clinics across the UK and New Zealand and then as resident osteopaths at the BBC. The practice has now grown to six osteopaths – with the addition of colleagues Charlie Mead, Clare Adams, Bobby Difiore and Jason Gibbs-Jones – along with therapists offering sports massage, reflexology and nutritional advice. The Hanwells have also invested in a state-of-the-art IDD spinal decompression machine. Having successfully received IDD treatment himself following a sports injury, Tim was determined to offer it to their patients to treat herniated discs, often offering an alternative to an injection or surgery. It is the only machine of its kind in West Hertfordshire.

‘Over 25 years we have watched families grow and now treat the children of our early patients – it’s wonderful to be part of the local community,’ says Juliet.

For more information regarding treatment, IDD Therapy or a workstation assessment, please visit www.berkhamstedosteopaths.co.uk.