What is Osteopathy?

Osteopathy is a hands-on therapy that is used to reduce the strain patterns in the body.

It was created by Andrew Taylor Still, a Surgeon in the American Civil War, in 1874.

He was the son of a frontier doctor and lost his wife and children to Spinal Meningitis.

Osteopathy makes the link between environment and health. It concludes that structure governs function and that the practitioner can use Musculo-Skeletal anatomy to balance dis-ease via manipulation.

Osteopathy is a holistic practice in that it treats the body as a whole, rather than considering it a sum of its’ component parts. It works with the bodies’ own healing mechanism.

The aim of osteopathy is to encourage well-being and integration within the body, which creates the potential for the patient’s health to re-balance, and for stress to be released. The body has an inner wisdom, it knows when it feels right, and it knows when it feels wrong.

Manipulation is a small part of osteopathy, with more emphasis being placed on the stretching and articulation of muscles and ligaments.

For more information, please take a look at The History of Osteopathy.

Copyright Lynne Aitken 2019