Your First Osteopathy Appointment

Practical information to help you prepare for your first consultation at Cabinet Médical du Regard, Paris 6.

How to Book

Appointments can be booked online through Doctolib, our online scheduling platform. This allows you to choose a convenient time slot and receive confirmation and reminders by email and SMS.

You can also book by telephone at 01 43 20 19 97.

Book an appointment on Doctolib

Hours and same-day slots

The practice runs Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 8pm and Saturday from 10am to 3pm, and the Doctolib diary is the one I work from, so a slot showing as free really is free.

For something that started yesterday, ring. Acute pain gets a same-day appointment whenever the diary allows one, and the telephone finds those gaps faster than the booking page will.

No prescription is needed. No letter from a GP either, because osteopathy in France is directly accessible: you book it yourself and you come.

Consultations are held in English, French or Portuguese.

What to Expect at Your First Consultation

Your first appointment lasts approximately 45 minutes to one hour. The consultation follows a structured format:

1. Clinical interview — A detailed discussion about your current symptoms, their onset and evolution, your medical history, lifestyle and any previous treatments you have received.
2. Physical examination — A thorough assessment of your posture, mobility and areas of tension or restriction. This may include orthopaedic and neurological tests as appropriate.
3. Diagnosis and treatment plan — Based on the findings, the osteopath establishes an osteopathic diagnosis and explains the proposed treatment approach. If the condition requires referral to another healthcare professional, this will be discussed.
4. Treatment — Manual techniques adapted to your condition and comfort level. The osteopath will explain each technique before and during application.
5. Advice and follow-up — Personalised recommendations (exercises, ergonomic adjustments, lifestyle modifications) and, if appropriate, a proposed follow-up schedule.

The cracking noise

Some patients arrive hoping for it. Others dread it. The audible click that comes with certain joint techniques is neither systematic nor necessary, and a fair number of sessions here end without a single one. What I use follows from what the examination showed.

Say so at the start if you would rather I left those techniques alone, because gentler ways of moving the same joint exist and work, and the moment to tell me is before my hands are on you.

I test how your spine and pelvis move, I reproduce the movement that hurts, and when the pain runs down an arm or a leg I check reflexes and muscle strength before treating.

What to Bring

• Any relevant medical imaging (X-rays, MRI, CT scans)
• Recent blood test results if relevant to your condition
• A list of current medications
• Comfortable clothing (shorts and a vest are ideal)

What to Wear

During the examination and treatment, you may be asked to undress to your undergarments so that the osteopath can properly assess your posture and palpate the relevant areas. Comfortable underwear is recommended. If you prefer, you may wear shorts and a vest or sports bra.

What it costs

A consultation is 100 €. Pregnancy and infant sessions are 60 €. Shock wave, 60 € as well.

You pay at the end, by card or in cash, and cheques are fine too; the invoice is handed to you before you leave, made out with everything a French mutuelle asks for.

Insurance and Fees

Osteopathy is not reimbursed by the French national health insurance system (Sécurité sociale). However, most complementary health insurance plans (mutuelles) provide partial or full reimbursement for osteopathic consultations. The number of sessions covered varies depending on the insurance contract.

A receipt (facture) is provided after each consultation for submission to your insurance provider. The full fee schedule and what insurers reimburse are on the fees and insurance page.

For international patients, private health insurance policies often cover osteopathic treatment. Please check your policy details before your appointment.

After the session

Being stiff for the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours is common, and it feels like the soreness after an unfamiliar effort, not like something going wrong.

Drink as you normally would. Move as you normally would. Skip the hard training that day. Do not spend it lying down either.

Pain still climbing on day three is different. Ring the practice.

How many sessions you will need

One to three appointments settle most recent problems, and something that has been there for months takes longer. The honest checkpoint is the third session: if nothing has shifted by then, it is the diagnosis that wants revisiting, not the number of appointments.

Monthly maintenance for a back that does not hurt has no justification. Once or twice a year covers prevention.

When I send you to a doctor

Some pain belongs to medicine before it belongs to me. Pain that wakes you at night with no position that relieves it, strength draining out of an arm or a leg, trouble passing water, fever alongside the pain, weight coming off for no reason: none of that gets treated on my table, and the session turns instead into an examination followed by a plain answer about where you should be going.

This happens several times a year. It is part of the work.

Emergencies

If you are experiencing a medical emergency (severe chest pain, sudden loss of motor function, high fever with stiff neck, or any other life-threatening symptom), please call the French emergency services at 15 (SAMU) or 112 (European emergency number) immediately. Osteopathic treatment is not a substitute for emergency medical care.

Cancellation Policy

If you need to cancel or reschedule your appointment, please do so at least 24 hours in advance via Doctolib or by telephone. This courtesy allows us to offer the time slot to another patient who may need care.

Late cancellations (less than 24 hours) or missed appointments without notice may be subject to a cancellation fee.