Osteopathy

Osteopathy is an approach to healthcare that emphasizes the role of the musculoskeletal system inhealth  and dieases. It is practised in the United Kingdom, the rest of the European Union, Israel, Canada, and Australia. Osteopathy is not to be confused with the historically related but now distinct field, osteopathic medicine in the United States.

In most countries, osteopathy is a form of complementary medicine, emphasizing a holistic approach and the skilled use of a range of manual and physicatreatment interventions in the prevention and treatment of disease. In practice, this most commonly relates to musculoskeletal problems such as back and neck pain. Osteopathic principles teach that treatment of the musculoskeletal system (bones, muscles and joints) facilitates the recuperative powers of the body.

The practice of osteopathy began in the United States in 1874. The term “osteopathy” was coined by Andrew Taylor Still. Still was a free state leader who lived nearBaldwin City, Kansas at the time of the American Civil War, and it was here he developed the practice of osteopathy.

Still named his new school of medicine “osteopathy,” reasoning that “the bone, osteon, was the starting point from which [he] was to ascertain the cause of pathological conditions.” Still founded the American School of Osteopathy (nowA.T Still University) in Kirksville, Missouri, for the teaching of osteopathy on May 10, 1892. While the state of Missouri, recognizing the equivalency of the curriculum, was willing to grant him a charter for awarding the MD degree, he remained dissatisfied with the limitations of conventional medicine and instead chose to retain the distinction of the DO degree.

These are the eight major principles of osteopathy and are widely taught throughout the international osteopathic community.

  1. The body is a unit.
  2. Structure and function are reciprocally inter-related.
  3. The body possesses self-regulatory mechanisms.
  4. The body has the inherent capacity to defend and repair itself.
  5. When the normal adaptability is disrupted, or when environmental changes overcome the body’s capacity for self maintenance, disease may ensue.
  6. The movement of body fluids is essential to the maintenance of health.
  7. The nerves play a crucial part in controlling the fluids of the body.
  8. There are somatic components to disease that are not only manifestations of disease, but also are factors that contribute to maintenance of the disease state.

These principles are not held by osteopathic physicians to be empirical laws; they are thought to be the underpinnings of the osteopathic philosophy on health and disease.