Osteopath advertising in the UK: the conditions you can name and the claims to avoid

CAP's advice for osteopathy accepts claims to treat arthritic pain, circulatory problems, cramp, digestion problems, fibromyalgia, frozen shoulder, shoulder and elbow pain, tennis elbow, headache arising from the neck, joint pains including hip and knee pain from osteoarthritis, general, acute and chronic backache and back pain, generalised aches and pains, lumbago, migraine prevention, minor sports injuries, muscle spasms, neuralgia, tension and inability to relax, rheumatic pain, sciatica and uncomplicated mechanical neck pain.

For anything beyond that list the ASA says claims are likely to be a problem unless the marketer holds robust clinical evidence. Whiplash is the example most often caught: the list covers uncomplicated mechanical neck pain, which excludes neck pain following injury.

This is where most ASA action against osteopaths has landed. The ASA accepts that osteopaths may refer to treating babies, children and pregnant women. It also says the evidence base for treating conditions specific to those groups, including colic and morning sickness, is limited or negative, so claims about such conditions need a robust body of evidence.

The ASA and GOsC issued dedicated guidance on marketing claims for pregnant women, children and babies, and the GOsC advised every registrant to review websites against it. Rulings in 2021 went against cranial osteopathy claims that lacked supporting evidence.

A family page can still do its job. Say that you see babies and expectant mothers, explain what a session involves and how you work alongside the midwife, health visitor or GP, and leave condition claims out.

Osteopaths have been regulated by statute since 1993, and the title is protected under section 32 of the Osteopaths Act. The GOsC and ASA issued a joint statement on protecting the title, aimed at people who use it, or align themselves with it, while unregistered.

For registered osteopaths the link between the two bodies runs through Standard D1 of the Osteopathic Practice Standards, whose guidance asks that advertising and website content is legal, decent, honest and truthful as defined by the ASA and conforms to the CAP Code. An unresolved ASA matter can therefore become a question about professional standards.

List every condition your website, Google profile and directory listings name, then mark each against CAP's accepted list. Rewrite family pages around who you see and how you work. Check testimonials for claims you could only make with evidence.

Then decide what the practice is known for. An osteopath recognised locally for one kind of patient, whether desk workers, runners or new parents with their own aches, is easier to recommend than one who lists every condition allowed.