| In Britain over 5 million people a year visit | | | | within itself all the necessary mechanisms |
| an osteopath, many of them now referred by a | | | | for its own defense against injury and |
| doctor. In the United States, where | | | | infection, and for restoration to normality |
| osteopaths are also medically trained | | | | following trauma. This defense and |
| doctors, the figure is in excess of 100 | | | | restoration take place best if the body is |
| million. | | | | maintained in optimum condition, when there |
| | | | is maximum structural mobility and |
| Osteopathy was devised in 1874 by Andrew | | | | flexibility. |
| Taylor Still. He trained as an engineer | | | | |
| before receiving formal medical training at | | | | Osteopathy is therefore aimed at encouraging |
| Kansas City School of Physicians and | | | | the body's internal mechanisms to focus on |
| Surgeons, after which he worked as an army | | | | their own self-corrective function on the |
| surgeon. He was unhappy with the often brutal | | | | imbalance. The osteopath's aim is to correct |
| medicine of his day, and he felt that | | | | the dysfunction so that the body is then in a |
| stimulating the body's natural powers of | | | | fit state to heal itself. Osteopathic |
| self-healing would be preferable. He was | | | | treatment is concerned as much with |
| interested in the body as a machine and | | | | maintenance as with cure. A regular checkup |
| became aware that many illnesses were the | | | | enables the osteopath to detect and restore |
| result of a misalignment of the body's | | | | areas of dysfunction before they manifest as |
| structures. Manipulation could restore the | | | | disease. |
| balance and cure illness, he believed. | | | | |
| | | | Osteopathy employs a wide range of |
| His philosophy was that "structure governs | | | | manipulative techniques, varying according to |
| function," a belief that remains one of the | | | | the part of the body being treated. Tight |
| basic principles of modern osteopathy. He | | | | muscles will be relaxed in order that fluids |
| claimed that tension in muscles and | | | | may flow freely, allowing blood to carry |
| misaligned bones places unnecessary strain on | | | | nutrients and oxygen to where they are |
| the body as a whole. The initial strain can | | | | needed, and allowing the waste products in |
| be caused by any number of factors, such as | | | | the lymphatic fluid to drain away. Some |
| physical injury, or habitual poor posture, or | | | | regions may require gentle, slow, |
| by destructive emotions such as anxiety and | | | | low-velocity touch, while soft tissues and |
| fear. Adjusting the framework of the body | | | | some joints may need flexing or massage. |
| would relieve that strain and enable all the | | | | Joints with reduced mobility may require |
| systems to run smoothly so that the body | | | | joint mobilization therapy. At all times, |
| would heal itself. | | | | however, it is the entire body that is |
| | | | undergoing treatment. The local body area, |
| Modern Therapy | | | | which is subject to the presenting complaint, |
| | | | naturally receives close attention, but the |
| Osteopaths regard the body as a unit, a whole | | | | osteopath also minutely examines the rest of |
| being made up of contributory parts. An | | | | the body for other factors that may |
| abnormality in the structure or reaction of | | | | predispose or contribute to the complaint. |
| one part exerts an abnormal influence on all | | | | |
| the other parts, which in turn affects the | | | | Read out for Strength ball training. |
| whole body. The normal, healthy body contain; | | | | |