Online consultations allow you to consult with your osteopath from the comfort of your own home. Via the use of video chat we can help you gain clarity around your injury or condition and then create a plan to get you back to health as soon as possible with an exercise program and some self treatment advice.
Research has shown that online consultations are a suitable alternative to hands on consultations for many musculoskeletal based pain and injuries. What we love most about the online osteopathy consultations however is how empowering they are for our patients when they realise that they are able to take their health into their own hands.
Online osteopathy consultations are perfect for people who:
In many ways, an online osteopathy consultation runs in exactly the same as a regular in house consultation.
When your body is in pain it can be extremely frustrating working out which advice is appropriate for you and your condition amongst the flood of information available on the internet. Our osteopath’s are trained professionals who pride themselves on being exceptional listeners and excellent problem solvers. We take the time to explain your diagnosis to you in a simple and easy to understand way and then together we formulate a treatment plan aimed at addressing key areas of concern so that you can get back to doing what the things you love pain free.
We use Zoom software for our sessions as it provides privacy and security whilst using a low bandwidth. Zoom’s minimum bandwidth requirements are 600kbps (up/down) and recommended is 1.5 Mbps (up/down). Check your Internet bandwidth using speedtest.net
We understand that online consultations may seem at odds with what many people perceive hands-on osteopathic consultations to be about and you may even be wondering how we can help when we aren’t working directly with your body?
Well, the good news is that there are lots of ways we can help! For us, the most important thing is that we are supporting you in your health and wellbeing and we believe that offering telehealth services is an important part of helping you stay on track with your health goals.
For the most part, we believe people will find more similarities than differences between online osteopathy sessions and an in-person sessions.
Take your history as per normal – We will ask all the normal questions about what is happening. They may ask you to point, describe or discuss your symptoms just as we normally would. The reason we ask these questions in every consultation is because it allows us to ascertain what is going on so that we can formulate a management plan for you!
We will examine your range of motion – In the clinic room, we normally get you up and ask you to bend here, twist there, stand on one leg etc. All of these movements are a part of our assessment of your problem. This shows us regions that aren’t moving great and where the problem is most likely to be coming from. For your online consultation, we will ask you to get up and do some of these movements. They may ask you to do a movement that causes you pain. All of this allows us to gather more information about you.
Your treatment – At the clinic, you would typically experience some manual therapy time. For your online consultation we can still offer a version of manual therapy but instead of being us putting our hands on you, we will help talk you through some stretches, exercises or self treatment techniques to help your body get back on track. Our team will work through the region that they normally would, just using a different method of delivery.
Whilst many patients associate osteopathic treatments with manual therapy that is only one of many tools that osteopath’s have in their tool kit. Our ability to problem solve along with our knowledge of anatomy and physiology means that we are able to diagnose and manage many different musculoskeletal conditions without needing to put our hands on your body.
During your online consultation, just like in a regular osteopathic we can help you gain clarity on:
You will need access to a desktop, laptop, tablet or smart phone along with a stable internet connection. If you have a tripod that would be ideal, but if not then making sure you can prop your device up so that you aren’t nee
In addition any of the following will be helpful (but not essential) to have on hand:
***** Until the 30th of April 2020 all online osteopathy appointments at WBHW are being offered as a ‘Pay What You Can Afford’ option. We want to ensure everyone has access to quality health care no matter what their circumstances are and *****
An online osteopathy consultation at WBHW is $87 for patients who have been to the clinic before (30 minute consultation) and $110 for new patients to the clinic (60 minute consultation).
We know that online osteopathy is a new concept for many of our patients which is why we want to make it as easy as possible for you to give it a go. If you have any questions we are here to help. Just as we would with our in-person consultations our practitioners will keep in touch and check in with you to see how things are going between appointments.
Private Health
At this point, you unfortunately can not claim online osteopathy consultations through your private health insurance.
Other 3rd party providers
Patients with approval from a NDIS or Worksafe case manager’s can have an online consultation paid for by these providers. TAC are currently reviewing their policies and will make a decision shortly regarding funding for these sessions. Medicare rebates are currently not available for telehealth however the Federal Government has indicated that they are working toward implementing this option for allied health care.