ABOUT OSTEOPATHY - A BRIEF HISTORY

Andrew Taylor Still, MD, DO., (August 6, 1828 – December 12, 1917) was the founder of osteopathy and osteopathic medicine. Dr Still was a physician and a surgeon during the civil war era in America. After losing all 3 of his children to spinal meningitis, Dr Still concluded that medical practices at the time could be harmful and ineffective. He went on to devote the remainder of his life to the study of the structure and function of the human body to develop an alternative means of treatment for disease and dysfunction. His philosophy of treatment became known as Osteopathy.

In 1892, Dr. Still founded the American School of Osteopathy, the very first school of osteopathy in Kirksville, Missouri. It is now named the A. T. Still University of Health Sciences.

Dr Still's philosophy of osteopathy was based on 3 core principles:

1. Structure and Function are Interrelated

Each structure has a shape that supports its function. From the smallest organelle of the cytoskeleton to the arrangement of the various bones and organs within the body, all parts function in relationship to their structural formation. When a

structure is compressed, over stretched or otherwise misaligned, function becomes impaired creating pain, dysfunction and even disease.

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2. The Body is a Unit

All systems are connected to one another. The circulatory system serves all the other systems of the body. The nervous system receives information throughout the body and sends regulatory signals regulating physiological systems based on this sensory input. Fascia or the connective tissue matrix is continuous throughout the body and invests every other structure. Treatment methods based in osteopathy are often successful because of the ability of the practitioner to locate the origin of the problem which can be distant from the symptoms of the patient.

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3. The Body is a Self-Correcting Mechanism

There is an innate ability of the human body to heal itself. Some practitioners refer to this part as the Inner Physician (IP). When the skin is lacerated, this self- correcting mechanism responds with an elaborate process to close the skin. Immune responses and inflammatory responses are also indicative of the body’s self healing abilities. The osteopathic approach involves facilitating or enhancing the body’s own natural capacity when traumatic or disease processes become overwhelming for the system.