SCIENCE OR VOODOO? HELP THE PUBLIC DECIDE!
Hunting around on YouTube one day for any videos highlighting Osteopathy, I happened across a fabulous example of explaining Cranial Osteopathy. A highly skilled and experienced Osteopath showed how she gently treated unsettled babies in the weeks after their traumatic birth. I was struck by the straight-forward delivery, the explanations and the exhausted parents sharing their delight at ‘taking a new baby home’ after treatment.
However, the shocker was the appalling comments which appeared beneath this fabulous video. I was horrified to see some laymen damning this treatment not as science but as voodoo! Some even said Trading Standards should be brought in to stop Osteopaths from taking people’s hard earned money off them!!
My blood was boiling – as yours probably is too! Somehow, this profession has totally failed to educate the public on the amazing benefits to everyone that Osteopathic treatment represents.
This was one of the catalysts for starting up my Osteobiz Club. I felt there was nobody championing the amazing work you do. Everyone knows what a Physiotherapist does but ask them what an Osteopath does and their eyes glaze over and they shrug their shoulders.
So my challenge to you this week is, how can you get greater awareness in your community of what you actually do? Because, unfortunately, you have the curse of knowledge. By this I mean that because you know your subject inside out, you forget what it’s like not to understand the basic concepts of Osteopathic treatment. But the man in the street will have little or no idea, other than the fleeting thought that you treat backs.
For instance, can you look again at your website and read your description of what you do and imagine not knowing the slightest thing about the subject. Is it clear? Does it speak directly to those you are targeting?
It seems to me that nobody is really championing the amazing work of Osteopaths and so the only way to increase awareness is for us to work together in helping the public to keep you top of mind when their body is in pain.
It is criminal that your finely honed skills are still being classed as voodoo. Isn’t it time we changed that?
