What is Osteopathy

A modern day Osteopath is trained as a primary contact practitioner with a high level of diagnostic skill. The Osteopath treats the patient holistically, with a combination of hands on manual therapy which consists of massage, articulation, manipulation, advice on management and exercises, lifestyle, rehabilitation regimes and referral when necessary.

The principles and philosophy of osteopathy integrate health and illness, emphasizing four major areas:

	Structure and function are interdependent. Furthermore behavior is an intermingled complex in which psychosocial influences can effect both anatomy (structure) and physiology (function). All these relationships are fundamentally designed to work in harmony.
	The body has the ability to heal itself, and the role of the osteopathic physician is to enhance the healing process as much as possible.
	Diseases, impairments and disabilities arise from disruptions of the normal interactions of anatomy, physiology and behavior.
	Appropriate treatment is based on the ability to understand, diagnose and treat by ( using a variety of methods ) whatever methods are available, including manually applied procedures. When hands on procedures are used to identify somatic dysfunction, the practitioner then determines whether the pattern of somatic dysfunction that is observed can be related to any visceral (that is, related to the internal body organs), neuromuscular skeletal, or occasionally behavioral dysfunction.

History of Osteopathy

One of the earliest systems of health care in the United States to use manual healing methods was osteopathic medicine. To its practitioners and too much of the public, the manual healing methods of osteopathic medicine are mainstream processes, but some people consider them alternative.

Osteopath started in Middle America in the mid 1800's when a bone setter and orthodox medical practitioner called Andrew Taylor Still lost several members of his family due to ill health. This caused Dr. Still to question the effectiveness of treatment at that time.

Dr. Still started experimenting with treating the whole person by addressing the muscular skeletal symptoms or manifestations of any injury or disease process and observing its effect on the condition and general health of the person. Dr Still continued to develop this relationship between structure and function incorporating the assumptions that manual restoration of normal anatomic relationships leads to physiological improvements in the body. In 1892 he opened the Kirksville School of Osteopathy . Graduates of the school were trained as primary contact practitioners capable of making a differential diagnosis, selecting a working diagnosis and formulating a holistic treatment plan via the use of physical therapy. Osteopathy grew quickly over the next decade and in 1906 The British school of Osteopathy was opened in London. Students of the school in London then took Osteopathy to the rest of Europe and to the new world countries, Australia and New Zealand .