In celebration of International Osteopathic Healthcare Week, in April the iO will be running a month-long social media campaign entitled #LoveYourHealth. During this campaign, the iO will be sharing with members of the public, key life style messages to help them make informed decisions around how they can better look after their health.
Data from the National Council for Osteopathic Research, Patient Reported Outcome Measures study has found that 50.4% of people who visited an osteopath had been experiencing symptoms for 13 weeks or more (61.1% were seen within three days of requesting an appointment.)
About #LoveYourHealth
Today’s society places ever-increasing demands on the time of our patients, from the pressures of juggling a career, household chores, and caring for loved ones, we appreciate that it can be difficult for patients to find time to concentrate on their own health. It is often only when a person’s health begins to suffer, and their body forces them to slow down that they then seek osteopathic treatment.
The aim of our #LoveYourHealth campaign is to highlight to members of the public that by simply taking some time for themselves every day – to eat healthily, drink more water, exercise and focus on their wellbeing – it will ultimately reduce their risk of developing a more serious health condition in the long term.
Osteopathy focuses on creating an environment that supports the health of our patients and we have created #LoveYourHealth, with its focus on positive messages for overall optimal patient health, to align with our osteopathic principles. Osteopaths are ideally placed to provide health advice and guidance to aid people in making the changes proposed by our #LoveYourHeath campaign, and it demonstrates to members of the public that osteopathic practice is about far more than treating bad backs.
The importance of physical activity
Around two thirds of men and around half of women in the UK meet the minimum recommended national levels for physical activity. Our #LoveYourHealth campaign will focus on how much physical activity people should do, how they can get started or become more active and the positive influence that physical activity can have on their health.
Sleep
Did you know that 1 in 3 people in the UK are affected by insomnia? Everyone knows the feeling after a bad night’s sleep, from irritability to unproductivity, but longer lasting sleep disruption can have a much more significant effect on our patient’s mental wellbeing and physical health. The #LoveYourHealth campaign will provide useful information and tips to patients to help them improve their sleep and reduce their risk long term of serious health problems.
Managing long term conditions
Pain, whilst unpleasant, can be a very useful sensation to have. Short term – or ‘acute’- pain helps us learn from our experience, to protect us from future injury. In some circumstances, however, pain may persist even after healing has finished. Our #LoveYourHealth campaign will provide informative hints and tips to patients who maybe struggling with chronic or persistent pain or have a long-term condition such as Arthritis or Osteoporosis.
Heathy eating
We know that being overweight or obese can lead to health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, heart disease and stroke. Being underweight can also affect your health too. Whether your patient wishes to lose weight and improve their health, reduce their reliance on sugar or get the balance of their diet right, our #LoveYourHealth Campaign with positive heathy eating messages can support them in making long term life style changes.
Heathy aging
Everybody gets grey hair and wrinkles as they get older. In the same way, it is normal for our muscles, bones, joints and associated tissues to change as we age. Our #LoveYourHealth campaign will focus on ways of keeping active, preventing common problems such as falls and managing conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatic pain and osteoporosis.
Osteopaths! We need your help to promote this campaign, here’s how can you get involved:
- Follow the Institute of Osteopathy on social media and share our #LoveYourHealth posts with your followers.
- Create your own health messages using the hashtag #LoveYourHealth and encourage your patients too as well.
- Display the #LoveYourHealth centre fold poster in your clinic
- For patients who are looking to make improvements to their health why not ask them to visit www.iOsteopathy.org/LoveYourHealth