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Osteopathy: Why Everything Old Is New Again

By Robert Shifflett

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Published: 12Feb2012
Word count: 516
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Today, the health care sector is an industry sized in billions of dollars. Pharmaceutical companies spend money on research, development, advertising -- and increasingly on lobbying doctors to push their drug to patients.

But one type of health care practitioner takes a very different approach. Osteopaths are educated and trained to work exclusively without the use of drugs. They find the health, rather than focus on disease. Osteopathic treatment works to restore proper body mechanics, nerve impulses and the circulation of body fluids.

Osteopaths recognize that the human body is self-regulating and self-healing - and will strive for health if given a chance. The role of the osteopath is to encourage this self-healing capacity through manual treatment.

Osteopaths allow nature to do its job of removing any and all obstacles and obstructions that will interfere with the proper nutrition and drainage of the body's tissue. Understanding and adjusting the anatomical unity of the human structure is their job.

What is Osteopathy?

Osteopathy is a form of medicine that was derived from Dr. Andrew Taylor Still. As the son of a medical doctor and farmer, Still learned at a young age to appreciate the medical practice. At age ten, he discovered a way to treat his own headaches and stomach disorders. His apprenticeship under his father continued, and he realized that healing was found not only in drugs and complicated medical terms-but also within the depths of nature.

In 1897, Still wrote, "Nature is never without necessary remedies." This sentence helps to explain the basis for osteopathy. He believed that the "bone, osteon, was the starting point from which [we can] ascertain the cause of pathological conditions." Believing that most ills can be healed through natural processes, Still brought forth a revolution in medical thinking.

Who Practices It Today?

Osteopathy is practiced throughout the world from the U.S. to the U.K. to Australia to France to Canada and beyond. The therapy is particularly popular in Canada, which has seven osteopathy colleges. "The human body is a self-regulating and self-healing entity," says Jared Postance, a Toronto-based osteopath. "Our role is to encourage this natural self-healing capacity through manual treatment-to convert the physical into the physiological."

Principles of Osteopathy

Dr. Still put forth four simple principles that osteopathic practitioners still use today:

1. The body is a unit. An integrated unit of mind, body, and spirit ("Man is Triune" - A.T. Still.

2. The body possesses self-regulatory mechanisms, having the inherent capacity to defend, repair, and remodel itself.

3. Structure and function are reciprocally inter-related.

4. Rational therapy is based on consideration of the first three principles.

What Can Osteopathy Do?

Osteopathy respects the relationship between mind, body, and spirit. Regardless of the severity of the condition, it can be used as a means for palliative, preventative, or curative care. Osteopathic therapy has been able to help with neurological dysfunctions, respiratory ailments, orthopedic injuries, and many others.

Robert Shifflett is an independent writer and consultant. He writes passionately about toronto osteopathy, osteopathic manual therapy, and general wellness.

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