Sittingbourne Osteopathic Practice
About our practice
The Sittingbourne Osteopathic Practice was founded in 1990. Since then it has been successfully giving treatments to get you pain free, back to health, back to work and getting you back to doing the things you enjoy.
Pain doesn’t have to be something you accept, nor do you have to give up activities that you love because your range of movement has reduced – osteopathy can solve both problems and get you back to what you want to do.
Our physical health affects our mental health – when we can’t do what we’re used to, we can become very unhappy and this can lead to more physical as well as psychological problems. Osteopathy can help you break this cycle. The clinics are run by Mark Smith, who has more than 30 years’ experience as an osteopath and a vast knowledge of the human body, how it works, the effects of modern living and the best treatment for each patient when it does go wrong. Not everyone’s pain is the same and so an individual approach is vital.
His sessions involve not only fixing the problem, but identifying why it happened in the first place and advising on corrections in posture, sporting technique or movements to increase or avoid to strengthen the weakened area and reduce a recurrence of the problem.
He’s keen to educate people so that they can make lifestyle choices which take into account how they use their body and the effect it has.
Mark Smith
Mark Smith started his career in osteopathy after reading an article all about it on a train. With his interest in sport, he thought it might be a career that would suit him.
Mark trained at the British School of Osteopathy and qualified in 1989 with a Diploma in Osteopathy. He’s since gained a Medical Diploma in Clinical Hypnosis and a diploma in Chinese acupuncture. He is registered with the General Osteopathic Council and the British Society of Clinical Hypnosis.
More than 30 years later, he is seeing a range of patients every week – some come in for regular maintenance treatment and others visit when they have a problem – usually a painful one!
Alongside osteopathy, Mark has also been a fitness instructor teaching weights, circuits, pre and post-natal classes, and Pilates too.
His own sporting interests include cycling, running and going to the gym. In 2008 he completed an Iron Man triathlon – something he was very proud to do. These days, you’ll find him out on the bike most weekends, running a few times a week, walking his dogs and he’s even a keen Lindy-Hopper which he’s been enjoying for a few years now. He also likes to take on a challenge and usually trains for a summer 100-mile bike ride somewhere. Mark knows the importance of keeping the body flexible and strong, thinking about posture and movement, to allow us to do the things we like to do for as long as possible.