Osteopathy is a patient centered whole body approach to healthcare that recognizes the importance of the relationship between the structure of the body and the way it functions.
Osteopathy uses palpation and manual techniques when diagnosing and treating structural and mechanical imbalances to release and realign the body. This hands on approach not only works with the body framework: bones, muscles, joints, connective tissue and tendons, it also works with internal organs to aid in your general health. Since Osteopathy emphasizes on the interrelationship of structure and function by treating the body framework and organs it helps to restore and maintain health by changing circulation, metabolism, digestion, lymphatic drainage and respiration.
Osteopathic treatment effectively relieves pain, improves posture, restores mobility and significantly improves the quality of life for many patients. Osteopathy restores proper body mechanics and health is the focus instead of the symptoms.
History of Osteopathy
The practice of Osteopathy was founded by Andrew Taylor Still (American) in 1874.
During the American Civil War (1861) Dr. Still enlisted to offer his medical and leadership skills. After returning home from the Civil War in 1864, Dr. Still dealt with the death of his three sons from spinal meningitis, his daughter from pneumonia, and his wife from giving birth. Distraught that medicine had been unable to save his family, Dr. Still rejected most of what he had learned about medicine and began to search for a new method of healthcare to improve the medicine of his day.
In 1874, Dr. Still coined the term “osteopathy” and in 1892 he founded the American School of Osteopathy (now A.T. Still University) in Kirksville, Missouri.
Dr. Still’s main principle was that structure (anatomy) and function (physiology) are inter-related. He also recognized the body’s ability to heal itself and that a key to health resides in the correction of the anatomical deviations that interfere with nervous system actions and the free, unimpeded flow of blood and other fluids in the body. He promoted the idea of preventative medicine and endorsed the philosophy that physicians should focus on treating the patient rather than the disease.
He invented the name "osteopathy" by blending two Greek roots osteon- for bone and-pathos for suffering in order to communicate his theory that disease and physiologic dysfunction were etiologically grounded in a disordered musculoskeletal system. Thus, by diagnosing and treating the musculoskeletal system, he believed that physicians could treat a variety of diseases and spare patients the negative side effects of drugs.
Osteopathy uses palpation and manual techniques when diagnosing and treating structural and mechanical imbalances to release and realign the body. This hands on approach not only works with the body framework: bones, muscles, joints, connective tissue and tendons, it also works with internal organs to aid in your general health. Since Osteopathy emphasizes on the interrelationship of structure and function by treating the body framework and organs it helps to restore and maintain health by changing circulation, metabolism, digestion, lymphatic drainage and respiration.
Osteopathic treatment effectively relieves pain, improves posture, restores mobility and significantly improves the quality of life for many patients. Osteopathy restores proper body mechanics and health is the focus instead of the symptoms.
History of Osteopathy
The practice of Osteopathy was founded by Andrew Taylor Still (American) in 1874.
During the American Civil War (1861) Dr. Still enlisted to offer his medical and leadership skills. After returning home from the Civil War in 1864, Dr. Still dealt with the death of his three sons from spinal meningitis, his daughter from pneumonia, and his wife from giving birth. Distraught that medicine had been unable to save his family, Dr. Still rejected most of what he had learned about medicine and began to search for a new method of healthcare to improve the medicine of his day.
In 1874, Dr. Still coined the term “osteopathy” and in 1892 he founded the American School of Osteopathy (now A.T. Still University) in Kirksville, Missouri.
Dr. Still’s main principle was that structure (anatomy) and function (physiology) are inter-related. He also recognized the body’s ability to heal itself and that a key to health resides in the correction of the anatomical deviations that interfere with nervous system actions and the free, unimpeded flow of blood and other fluids in the body. He promoted the idea of preventative medicine and endorsed the philosophy that physicians should focus on treating the patient rather than the disease.
He invented the name "osteopathy" by blending two Greek roots osteon- for bone and-pathos for suffering in order to communicate his theory that disease and physiologic dysfunction were etiologically grounded in a disordered musculoskeletal system. Thus, by diagnosing and treating the musculoskeletal system, he believed that physicians could treat a variety of diseases and spare patients the negative side effects of drugs.
