Sarah Ellen tells us what led her to become an osteopath:
“I had always been interested in working closely with people and as a teenager considered medicine or counselling as a profession, but they didn’t quite fit with how I had imagined my future-self working. It was my mother who put the idea of osteopathy to me, and she told me that I would need A-level biology as a minimum requirement to start the undergraduate course. As a 16 year old, however, I was lucky to have not experienced any need to see an osteopath (or so I thought!), so I parked the idea in the back of my mind to revisit sometime when I had done some growing up and experienced a bit of life. Bring on 3 fun years at Birmingham University, occasionally studying geology, but mostly having fun with my new-found independence and friends!
The next obvious step was to move to London and I fell into some temping work at a television production company. I enjoyed this vibrant new lifestyle and worked on various different genres of television show before settling into research and production on the longstanding genealogy series – “Who do you think you are?”. It was interesting work but nagging at the back of my mind was still the question of what I would do as my “proper” career, once I had grown up!
A nasty ankle sprain and concussion whilst playing netball against some particularly competitive Aussie’s led me back towards researching manual therapy courses via months of physiotherapy. When researching osteopathy, I was struck by the philosophy of this weird (to me!) and wonderful profession. I met with people at a British School of Osteopathy open day, who were so passionate about osteopathy, and I felt truly inspired. Within a few short months I had submitted my application and was back at university, older and slightly wiser than the first time round, but most definitely more committed and inspired. Four years, full time, squeezing in part time work and eating the cheapest, least nutritious food (white bread/cheese sandwich – every day!) to keep my costs low and I don’t regret a thing!
Studying osteopathy changed the way I viewed life; it became my way of life. Amongst the core principles (e.g. the body has its own medicine cabinet, the rule of the artery is supreme…) was the whole ethos of how to treat and support people, not conditions, and to view patients with consideration of their unique biological, psychological and social state of health. This in turn revolutionised how I viewed others and my own health.
Becoming an osteopath was not just completing a four year, full-time course – I soon realised that that was just the beginning of the journey! Osteopaths never stop studying, our learning includes how to “listen” to and “read” a patient which is a constant work in progress. We listen and read through the sense of touch, using our own body to interpret where a patient is feeling strain or struggling to find equilibrium and health. It is by using musculoskeletal techniques (e.g. massage, articulation of joints) that we support the patient’s body in getting itself back to health. I certainly learn as much from my fantastic, unique patients, as I believe they do from me, and I relish each day in practice free from monotony or repetitive routines.”