Osteopathy in East London & Essex, Spine Plus

Spine Plus, Osteopathy in London

Spine Plus provides osteopathy from modern clinics serving in Essex and East London. Our Essex clinics are in Chigwell and Gidea Park, with East London clinics in Woodford Green and Bow.

Founded in 2000 by osteopath Robert Shanks, Spine Plus has earned a reputation across London and Essex for delivering genuinely effective musculoskeletal care. Our practitioners are all postgraduate trained with access to the latest therapy technologies, from IDD spinal decompression to Focused Shockwave Therapy.

What Makes Spine Plus Different?

• Multi-practitioner and multidisciplinary team
• Osteopaths & Physiotherapists with advanced training
• Consultant-grade practitioners with 10+ years experience
• Expert hands-on care integrated with advanced technology
• UK’s most experienced IDD Therapy providers
• Focused Shockwave Therapy (rare in UK)
• Clear onward pathways for surgery, MRI, injections
• Hundreds of 5-star Google and Facebook reviews

About Our Osteopath Care

All of our osteopaths are postgraduate trained and highly experienced, giving every patient reassurance from the first visit. We listen to your symptoms and recommend the osteopathic care that’s right for you after a thorough assessment, so you start your rehabilitation with confidence.

Treatment might mean soft tissue techniques, including massage, applied to sore, tight muscles, or medical acupuncture: it comes down to your personal preference. Our osteopaths are also trained in electrotherapy, including ultrasound, ideal for certain tendon and ligament problems. Acupuncture and other modalities, including ultrasound therapy, are available from our osteopaths at no extra cost.

We pride ourselves on our relationship with patients, attending to your needs and improving your wellbeing. That’s the Spine Plus guarantee: a gold standard of treatment with a friendly, professional touch.

Background to Osteopathy Treatment

Osteopathy originated in America in the late 19th century and developed in the UK within the private sector, outside the hospital environment. Because of this history, many doctors in the UK have historically had a limited understanding of what osteopathy involves, and some have been sceptical of patients consulting osteopaths. This is largely unwarranted: in many respects, osteopaths and physiotherapists work in very similar ways. Traditionally, osteopathy focused on high velocity thrusts (HVTs), or “adjustments,” to the spinal joints.

The idea that osteopaths simply click the joints of the spine, sometimes without warning, is a misconception still held by some people. In fact, modern osteopaths are trained in a wide variety of hands-on manual therapy techniques for all the muscles and joints of the body, not just the back. Since osteopathy became a fully regulated profession in the UK over ten years ago, osteopaths are now highly trained in diagnosing sports injuries and neurological and orthopaedic problems using mainstream clinical methodology, and are more aware than ever of contraindications to certain techniques and the importance of informed patient consent.

Osteopathy is available at the following clinics

Conditions Treated

• Back Pain & Neck Pain
• Sciatica & Disc Problems
• Shoulder Pain
• Hip & Knee Pain
• Sports Injuries
• Tension Headaches
• Post Operative Rehabilitation
• Plantar Fasciitis