Laurence Axtens - Osteopath

30/06/2025

Honest practice is based on self reflection and the willingness to adopt the changes that requires. Few things are more difficult than changing aspects of your practice particularly if they make up the core of your presumptive work.
I’ve always been a higher risk higher reward clinician.
Now I don’t believe those risks are worth those rewards any longer.
I feel the level of investigation required to reduce the risks to acceptable is beyond my scope and that other practitioners would be better emotionally suited to taking those risks.
This is my high rise plumber moment.
For years plumbers can walk along girders on high rise then one day they just can’t. Their self belief fails and the fear wins and I’m ok with that.
We all need to know our own limitations.

04/02/2025

Send a message to learn more

08/01/2025

Back on deck folks for treatment and management of your somatic discomforts.

26/10/2024

I’m at the Osteopathy Australia National Conference in Sydney.
The profession seems to be having a bit of an identity crisis.
Here is the problem.
Increasingly there is a confluence of theory and practice between ourselves, physiotherapy and chiropractic as we all becoming increasingly ‘evidence based’ in our approach.
Definitely a good thing I’d agree … however as we become more alike the more we lose our uniqueness, what makes us special or different.
We can always argue that unlike the others we have an underlying philosophy but aren’t those core beliefs also mainstream?
Doesn’t every manual primary care therapist understand that the body is unified, that function and structure are intimately related, that blood flow is essential to complex life and that rational intervention would be based on these concepts.
I think they’re pretty simple fundamental axioms that we all share now.
So how are we different?
I would propose that all primary care manual therapists are different and that choosing a therapist is about assessing each therapist individually.
I’ve always disliked being labelled .. why does my qualifications as a Ayurvedic therapist or as a remedial masseur vanish because I’ve also been taught Osteopathy?
I don’t want to be just an Osteopath.
I like being myself … I encourage people to live beyond their labels.
My aim at the moment is to broaden my diagnostic skill set by studying Traditional Chinese Medicine.
I’m increasingly fascinated by balance and the harmony of relationships necessary for its maintainence.
Life is for learning. Labels limit us. Let’s all live beyond our labels.
“There is a crack in everything - that’s how the light gets in” Leonard Cohen.

08/08/2024

Happy birthday to the founder of osteopathic medicine, Andrew Taylor Still, MD, DO! Today, we celebrate 150 years of his pioneering principles and the impact they've had on health care. Thank you, Dr. Still, for inspiring generations of DOs.

17/01/2024

I’ve been taking this approach to my central obesity. It isn’t easy … it seems to me that the toxins that are released in long stored fat keep me mildly nauseated. I am winning though on 16-8 schedule. Anyone keen to learn or support my journey can message me.

Losing weight via intermittent energy restriction can curb brain activity related to eating behavior and increase microbial diversity in the gut in individuals with obesity.

09/01/2024

Clinic closed for cleaning and practitioner reinvigoration till January 23.

21/03/2023

Finally back at work - and open for booking

10/08/2021

Learn about AZ vaccine

Summary All living organisms are continuously exposed to a plethora of viruses. In general, viruses tend to be restricted to the natural host species which they infect. From time to time viruses cross the host‐range barrier expanding their host ...

08/05/2021

Osteopath Australia has finally approve a bedding option; lots of problems come from poor sleep and poor quality bedding. If you're considering upgrading your bedding these beds are worth a look.

Serenity HLP Mattress is a perfect blend of comfort, contouring pressure relief and core support, designed for all body shapes and all types of sleepers. Not too firm, not too soft and with an interchangeable comfort system that means you can change the feel of your mattress until you find perfect s...

29/03/2021

Poor mice but it’s good to know

Acupuncture activates inflammation-regulating pathways, tames cytokine storm in mice.

23/06/2019

A collaborative effort of the Fascia Research Society, The Plastinarium, and Body Worlds, the project is taking place at the Plastinarium laboratory in Guben, Germany.