Why you should drink water after your osteo treatment

One time or another, your osteopath has probably advised you to drink plenty of water following a treatment. I can tell that most of my patients tell me what I want to hear, that they will drink plenty of water, but they probably don’t. So why is it necessary to drink water after a treatment?

Firstly, lets talk about what goes on in the body after your treatment has finished. You’ve just had your muscles and joints worked on, and now that your musculoskeletal system is functioning more optimally than before, the other systems in your body are free to function better too. One of these systems is the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system assists the body in removing wastes and toxins from all systems through the movement of fluid. Muscles, for instance, produce metabolic waste just through everyday function. After the lymphatic system has sorted though this waste it is returned back into the blood circulation where it is taken to the kidneys. The kidneys filter the waste and then flush it out in your urine. So now that these systems are functioning a little better than before after your treatment, it is nice to assist the kidneys in flushing out this waste quicker by drinking lots of water!

The next thing we need to consider is circulation to the areas that have just been treated! When you have a restriction to an area, circulation can also be restricted. So once you have been treated and the restriction has been released, blood supply to the area is restored to normal. Drinking water allows the body to get hydrated, and this allows the circulatory system function easier by moving blood to the newly treated area more sufficiently, supplying it with oxygen and nutrients.

So there you have it, even drinking just one glass of water after your osteo treatment can assist in that treatment being more effective!

This article is for information purposes only. Please consult your Osteopath or primary healthcare professional for further information.