Chris York Osteopath

21/08/2026

15/08/2026

This is osteopathy

"To find health should be the object of the doctor. Anyone can find disease." - A.T. Still, DO (founder of osteopathy)

13/08/2026

Here's a clip of me working with one of the beautiful horses from Leg Up Trust here in Hawke's Bay 🤍

Using cranial osteopathy and gentle spinal mobilisation techniques, I can help horses and dogs with:

Stiffness, tension & restricted movement
Recovery after injury or heavy workload
Performance and flexibility
General wellbeing
I've been trained in animal osteopathy since 2004, studying under Stuart McGregor at the Osteopathic Centre for Animals in England 🇬🇧

If you think your horse or dog could benefit, I'd love to chat!

📱 Call or text: 021 247 4701
📧 Email: [email protected]
🌐 Find out more: www.chrisyorkosteo.co/animal-osteopathy

09/08/2026

🌴 Taking a well-deserved break!

I'm away for the next week recharging the batteries (even osteopaths need a tune-up sometimes 😄).

I'll be back on Tuesday 18th August and will be in touch as soon as I return.

In the meantime, you can find out more about my services, locations, and FAQs at 👇
🌐 www.chrisyorkosteo.co

To book an appointment or get in touch:

📱 Call or text: 021 247 4701
📧 Email: [email protected]
🗓️ Book online: www.chrisyorkosteo.co/book

Thanks for your patience and ongoing support — it truly means the world! 🙏

— Chris

23/07/2026

Someone gets an MRI for their back pain, and the report comes back with a herniated disc. A bulge, a protrusion, maybe the word "extrusion." They read it as structural damage, a part that is broken, and they start treating their spine like it could give out at any moment.

The imaging usually leaves out that herniated discs tend to heal on their own. In the research, disc sequestrations, the most severe grade of herniation, spontaneously regressed about 96 percent of the time. Even extrusions, the next grade down, resorbed around 70 percent of the time without surgery. The thing on the scan that scared you is, more often than not, on its way out on its own, and the worse it looks, the more likely it is to go.

And most of those findings were never the cause of the pain to begin with. Disc degeneration and bulges show up in high proportions of people with no back pain at all, and they get more common with age. They are, in large part, normal aging that happens to be visible on an MRI. That is why the guidelines and the Choosing Wisely campaign recommend against imaging most acute low back pain in the first place. It does not improve outcomes, it drives up cost, and it can make things worse.
Worse, because the words attached to a scan stick. Patients with persistent low back pain frequently trace the belief that their back is fragile or permanently damaged back to something a healthcare professional said. The finding becomes a story: my back is broken, so I should stop moving. The fear of movement, more than the disc, is what turns a normal, self-limiting episode into a lasting disability.

None of this means back pain isn't real or that nothing serious ever happens. A small fraction of cases, roughly 1 to 4 percent, involve something that needs prompt care, and there are specific red flags for it. But the other 90-plus percent is non-specific and has a genuinely favorable course. Most people improve substantially within about six weeks.

So if you are staring at a report full of frightening words, most of what it lists is common, much of it heals, and the story you build around it often matters more than the picture.

If your back is flaring right now, what did you get told was wrong with it?

17/07/2026

This is what I love about osteopathy.

15/07/2026

Interesting.

Ten-year follow-up data from the FIDELITY study of arthroscopic partial meniscectomy (APM) in patients with symptoms of degenerative meniscal tear found the procedure offered no benefits and was even associated with worse outcomes.

The FIDELITY study used sham APM as the placebo control. The study involved 146 patients, aged 35-65 years, who were randomized during exploratory arthroscopy either to have damaged or loose parts of the meniscus removed, or to a sham procedure where the surgeon mimicked the movements of surgery without removing any tissue.

The 1-year data found no differences between the sham and real surgery groups in patient-evaluated functional outcomes, health-related quality of life, or knee pain after exercise. https://mdsc.pe/4tXumot

13/07/2026

The cisterna chyli is the reservoir, not the pump.

Sitting anterior to L1–L2, just to the right of the aorta, the cisterna chyli collects lymph from the lower body, abdominal organs, and intestines via the lumbar and intestinal lymphatic trunks.

It has no muscular wall of its own to actively contract and push that fluid onward — it depends entirely on outside force.

The right crus of the diaphragm supplies that force. Anatomically, the right crus overlaps the cisterna chyli as it descends to attach at L3.

This isn't incidental — it means every time the respiratory diaphragm contracts and descends on inhalation, the right crus mechanically compresses and massages the cisterna chyli, squeezing lymph upward into the thoracic duct through the aortic hiatus at T12.

This is the direct structural link — diaphragmatic breathing isn't just changing pressure at a distance, it's physically massaging the reservoir with every breath.

The pressure differential does the rest. Beyond the direct crural squeeze, inhalation drops intrathoracic pressure while raising intra-abdominal pressure.

That gradient pulls lymph up through the thoracic duct toward the neck; on exhalation, the reversal helps draw the next volume up from the cisterna chyli below — the alternating "relay" Foldi described, where exhale empties the cisterna into the duct and the following inhale advances that column further toward the venous terminus.

The proof is visual and measurable.

Dr. Jack Shields' 1980 imaging study showed the thoracic duct visibly surge — described as "shooting like a geyser" — during a single deep breath, outperforming flow generated by walking or jogging.

He later termed this mechanism "central lymph propulsion" in his paper of the same name.

Diaphragmatic breathing isn't just abdominal breathing for relaxation — it's the mechanical hand that reaches down and massages the cisterna chyli with every breath, converting a passive reservoir into an active pump for the entire central lymphatic system.

As we transition from the cisterna chyle to the diaphragms, my coming posts will focus on the diapgragms and information included in my next article.

Keep in mind the correlation between this structure and how it is influenced by the balance of the diaphragms.

Whether you are a therapist or just someone interested in learning how to help your lymphatic system function optimally, this article is for you!

Follow, like and share to keeep learning with the LRT community!

07/07/2026

🌿 New post — and it starts with something a patient said to me last week.

"My mast cells are attacking my body."

That phrase stopped me. Because your body doesn't attack itself. It responds intelligently — always, every time.

Think about firefighters creating a firebreak. From above, it looks like they're cutting down the very forest they're trying to save. But they're not. They're making a calculated, brilliant move to stop something far worse.

Your mast cells are the firefighters. So is your swelling, your pain, your fatigue, your loss of appetite. None of it is a mistake.

New blog post: Don't Shoot the Messenger — why your body is never working against you, and what terrain theory tells us about real healing. 🌱

👉 https://www.chrisyorkosteo.co/blog/dont-shoot-the-messenger

02/07/2026

🏖️ Next time you're at the beach, sprint across the wet sand right at the water's edge.

Notice how it goes hard underfoot?

Walk slowly across the same sand and it gives way. But apply force — and it resists.

That's a non-Newtonian fluid. And your body's soft tissue works exactly the same way.

It's why I never force anything in treatment. Push against a restricted area and the tissue braces, the nervous system guards, and you're fighting the very thing you're trying to release.

Gentleness isn't a soft option. It's the most precise tool I have.

I've also been thinking lately about something I notice with the people I treat — the difference between someone who works on the land and someone who lives in the city. Both need osteopathy. But they need completely different things from it.

New post on the blog 👇

🔗 https://www.chrisyorkosteo.co/blog/you-are-a-liquid

Cranial osteopath in Napier and Te Awanga, NZ. ACC registered. Gentle hands-on treatment for back pain, neck pain, headaches, sports injuries & more.