Osteopathy was founded in America in 1874 by Dr Andrew Taylor Still of Kirksville, Missouri. Dr Still was a doctor in a small frontier town in the mid-west. Life for a country doctor in those days was very different from what it is today. There were no pain-killing drugs, X-rays or other hospital tests. The local chemist, if there was one, it sold little more than remedies based on herbs and folklore. The germ theory of disease put forward by Lister and Pasteur was still unheard of, so even if patients
undergoing surgery survived the terrible ordeal of an operation without anaesthetic; they often died from an infection soon afterwards.
Medical training was in no better state. There were few medical schools and those that existed were very expensive, so there was little opportunity for anyone wishing to enter the medical profession. Dr Still was fortunate. As the son of a doctor, he went to medical school and received a formal training. After finishing this, he worked with his father. Doing the rounds of his rural practice he particularly noticed the way his patients’ health was affected by the way they used their bodies.
As time went on he followed a different path from many of his peers avoiding alcohol and
administering crude drugs which were at their disposal in heroic quantities. His medical practice included caring for both settlers and American Indians. He faced epidemics such as cholera, malaria, pneumonia, smallpox, diphtheria, and tuberculosis. After the War, spinal meningitis claimed three of his children and he began searching for a better system of medicine. This drove him to look for new methods of treatment. The outcome of his research was application of physical treatment, as a specialised form of treatment for which he coined the term ‘Osteopathy’.
In 1892 Dr Still organised a school in Kirksville, Missouri, for the teaching of osteopathy and it was from these small beginnings that osteopathy was brought to the United Kingdom around the turn of the century. The first school of osteopathy was set up in London in 1917 and, over time, other schools and colleges followed.
Description and benefits of Osteopathy
Osteopathy is one of only two complementary therapies in the UK regulated by law. It is illegal for anyone to call themselves an osteopath unless they are registered with The General Osteopathic Council which is the statutory regulatory body for osteopaths in the United Kingdom.
Osteopathy is a naturalistic, holistic and drugless approach to health and disease. It is based on the idea that man is not a collection of parts but a synthetic whole imbued with spirit. The body functions as a total unit and possesses self-healing and self-regulating mechanisms. Osteopathy maintains that there is a reciprocal relationship between structure and function. An alteration in the musculoskeletal system through injury will result in a change in function - an internal organ and hence disease. Likewise, a diseased internal organ will result in an alteration in the musculoskeletal system.
Osteopathy is a way of detecting and treating damaged parts of the body such as muscles, ligaments, nerves and joints. When the body is balanced and efficient, just like a well tuned engine, it will function with the minimum of wear and tear, leaving more energy for living.
Some of the conditions which osteopathy can help relieve are:
- back pain
- arthritic pain
- period pain
- repetitive strain injury
- shoulder and neck pains including frozen shoulder
- sleeping difficulties
- neuralgia and sinus pain
- teeth grinding
- irritable bowel syndrome
- sciatica
- mobility problems
- sports injury
- postural problems caused by pregnancy, driving or work strain
- joint pain, muscular aches, pains and strains
- tennis elbow
- asthma and respiratory problems
- colic and sleeplessness in babies
The osteopathic physician, by his or her intimate knowledge of living anatomy can recognize, even on subtle levels, these deviations from normal and by the application of various manual manoeuvres restore the structure and function and assist the inherent self healing powers of the body.
Governing bodies of Osteopathy
The General Osteopathic Council (GOsC)
General Council and Register of Osteopaths (GCRO)
The Osteopathic Association of Great Britain (OAGB)
British Naturopathic and Osteopathic Association (BNOA) is the professional association for graduates of the British College of Naturopathy and Osteopathy.
British Osteopathic Association (BOA)
Association of Osteopathic Practitioners (AOP)
The British and European Osteopathic Association (BEOA)
The Natural Therapeutic and Osteopathic Society (NTOS)
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