Incredibly poor experience for multiple reasons.Gemma adjusted my neck with no explanation and no consent. This action broke various codes of practice, in particular A4: 'You must receive valid consent for all aspects of examination and treatment'.Please don't do this to your patients for obvious reasons....1. Respect the patient's opinion to choose what happens to their bodies.2. Let the patient know what you want to examine, what you find and why you want to adjust someone's neck... don't just do it at random with no warning.3. Some people, like me, hate neck adjustments, I didn't want one and didn't even need one.Incorrect diagnosis.I was at this clinic for a lower back injury/issue. After 3 appointments in a row of giving feedback to Gemma that I was experiencing symptoms of chronically tight Quadratus Lumborum muscles, she tells me categorically that those muscles are not the concern. She says to me "You need to stop worrying about your QL muscles, it's not them, that's referred pain......who has put the idea of QL muscles into your head, or do you know your anatomy?". She carries on focusing treatment on my T12 spine area as she has done for the first 4 appointments, as she thinks I have probably got a disc issue....I send her an email asking for more clarity on the treatment she's giving me and what she's seeing/feeling that's making her ignore my QL muscles and instead focus on the T12 area, but she doesn't answer my questions, instead she asks me to see her new employee for a 2nd opinion. This clearly indicates to me that she doesn't have confidence in giving me a clear diagnosis.I go to the 2nd opinion appointment. The new practitioner rules out a disc issue and diagnoses tight QL muscles....The complete opposite of what Gemma was saying.I have one last appointment with Gemma. I go to this appointment not sure if she's going to go with the 2nd opinion, but she does and decides to focus treatment on my QL muscles. There's no apology, she chooses not to be open with me and do the right thing and offer some free treatments to make up for it. I don't understand why she did not recognise the situation or choose to recover the situation.At this stage I have not even complained about her adjusting my neck, I have not complained about her misdiagnosis which has meant that I've paid for and had the wrong treatment for several appointments...Next thing that happens is, I was overcharged for an appointment from weeks earlier, which Gemma had acknowledged, but decided to take 4 weeks to resolve, almost overcharging me a 2nd time in the process of me trying to recoup the money. At this point I'd had enough. It took all of this to happen before I complained about everything.I wish I had a good service, I wish Gemma had asked to assess my neck/adjust my neck - she chose not to. I wish Gemma listened to me when I kept telling her over and over again that I had issues with my QL's - she chose not to listen and didn't even seem to investigate/assess/examine my QL's, she just stubbornly thought it was something to do with my T12 area that was causing my back issues - but never even explained to me what she was seeing. I wish the customer service was better. I have no choice but to leave a bad review.I don't know how she got it so wrong. The worst thing for me is not having the decency to admit she failed with the diagnosis. This is another thing the regulator would have a field day with as it's another breach of their codes of practice. Osteopaths, like anyone in the medical field, are supposed to have a duty of candour.Before I went to GW Osteopathy my back was getting better, but at the time I didn't realise it as I thought it was because of painkillers I was taking. A few weeks into treatment at GW I realised it was because I was sitting with better posture and not because of the painkillers. I had seen a physio before going to GW who had told me to sit with better posture and that would fix my back. I wasn't convinced that would fix my back and that's why I went to GW.... it turns out I was wrong. My QL muscles had become chronically tight from sitting with poor posture/slouching....All I needed to be told by an Osteopath was the same thing that the physio told me - that I needed to sit with better posture. I didn't need much treatment, if any.Now, months have passed since I saw the NHS physio and I have improved significantly as sitting better and time has healed my back. My last 3 treatments at GW were focused on my QL muscles, so maybe that helped somewhat. What also confirms that my back issues were down to poor sitting posture is that I have recently got into bad habits of slouching again, and my issues briefly come back until I sit better again.
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GW Osteopathy is a prominent massage clinic specialising in osteopathy treatment including sports massage acupuncture treatment for adults & children.
