Osteopathy as Supportive Care Alongside Your Sleep Apnoea Treatment
Obstructive sleep apnoea is a medical condition, and it has established treatment. Some patients also find manual therapy useful for the aches and tensions that sit around that treatment. The two are not alternatives, and understanding the difference matters.
Treatment comes first
National guidance is clear about the pathway. CPAP is recommended for moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnoea. Where someone is unable to tolerate CPAP or declines to try it, a customised or semi-customised mandibular advancement splint is considered as an alternative, and the same applies in mild disease where daytime symptoms are affecting the person. Splint patients are reviewed at three months to check device adjustment and symptom improvement, then as their needs require. Nothing described below replaces any part of this.
Where an osteopath can help
Osteopaths are statutorily regulated and their recognised scope covers musculoskeletal complaints. For someone settling into treatment, that can include:
Jaw and facial muscle discomfort during the adjustment period with a mandibular advancement splint.
Neck and shoulder tension, mechanical neck pain, and headache arising from the neck.
Generalised aches and difficulty relaxing, which often accompany years of fragmented sleep.
Manual therapy has a reasonable evidence base for temporomandibular pain and mouth opening, particularly when combined with therapeutic exercise, and jaw discomfort is among the more common early complaints with splint therapy.
Being clear about the limits
Osteopathy does not treat sleep apnoea itself. A randomised controlled trial testing osteopathic manipulation in sleep apnoea patients found no reduction in the apnoea–hypopnoea index. No trial has yet shown that manual therapy improves how well people stick with CPAP or a splint.
Used honestly, it is comfort care around effective treatment. Speak to us before adding anything alongside your prescribed therapy.
References
Advertising Standards Authority & Committee of Advertising Practice. (2022, November 1). Health: Osteopathy(AdviceOnline). https://www.asa.org.uk/advice-online/health-osteopathy.html
Attali, V., Jacq, O., Martin, K., Arnulf, I., & Similowski, T. (2022). Osteopathic manipulation of the sphenopalatine ganglia versus sham manipulation in obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome: A randomised controlled trial. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 11(1), Article 99. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11010099
Herrera-Valencia, A., Ruiz-Muñoz, M., Martin-Martin, J., Cuesta-Vargas, A., & González-Sánchez, M. (2020). Efficacy of manual therapy in temporomandibular joint disorders and its medium- and long-term effects on pain and maximum mouth opening: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9(11), Article 3404. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9113404
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. (2021). Obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome and obesity hypoventilation syndrome in over 16s (NICE Guideline NG202). https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng202
