What is Osteopathy?

Osteopathy is a whole body system of manual therapy based on biomechanical principles. Osteopathy shares many of the same goals as traditional medicine, but places greater emphasis on the relationship between the organs and the musculoskeletal system as well as treating the whole individual rather than just the disease.

Osteopathy is a system of health care that looks at the relationship between the body’s physical structure (bones, ligaments, muscles and organs) and its impact on the body’s physiological processes. Osteopathy assists the body to regain its normal functioning as a balanced and efficient system.Principles of Osteopathy

The basic osteopathic principles are:

• The body contains within itself a self-regulatory and self-healing system to combat disease processes
• The person is an integrated unit in which structure, function, mind and spirit are interrelated

How do Osteopaths Treat?

In carrying out treatments, Osteopaths call upon what is probably the largest range of techniques used in any manual therapy. These include:

Fascial Release - a generalized term to describe treatment that is aimed at restoring soft tissue mobility and motility, particularly that of membranous-like tissues. These connecting tissues comprise the fabric that holds the human body together as a functioning system. The Osteopath’s palpatory skill is used in achieving release without the application of force. There are many types of fascial release that have been developed by Osteopaths. These include:

• General Osteopathic Treatment (GOT) that is primarily rhythmical.
• Articulation techniques, in which joints are mobilized by being passively taken through their range of motion.
• Muscle Energy techniques, in which contracted muscles are released by alternately being stretched and made to work against resistance.
• Counterstrain techniques, which achieve release of restriction by placing the affected joint or muscle in a position of comfort while applying a counter-stretch to the antagonists of the tight muscles.
• Functional techniques, which involve gentle mobilization of joints in a way that probes barriers to normal movement until a way is found through the restriction.
• Reciprocal Membranous Tension.
• Massage and stretching techniques.

Osteo-articular adjustments - as cited on the CCO website: As described by Philippe Druelle, DO, an osteo-articular adjustment is a precise methodical and exacting manual osteopathic technique, which requires specificity. The Osteopath’s goal is to restore the natural physiological relationship between the elements comprising the articular functional unit without using force.

Rather than attempting to physically move the bones, the Osteopath delivers a precisely timed and placed “impulse” in order to reduce the strain upon the intended articular functional unit. This impulse allows the unit to return to its natural position without stressing either the tissues, the body, or the patient.” The articulation is not forced through a range of motion; there is no high-velocity thrust performed at the articular end range.

Many Osteopaths also use what is known as "Osteopathy in the Cranial field", which is a sub-discipline of Osteopathy developed by William Garner Sutherland, DO, who was a student of the profession’s founder, A.T. Still. Cranial Osteopathy focuses on the restoration of the Primary Respiratory Mechanism (PRM); treatment is not restricted to the cranium alone, it may also be applied to any other tissue or system of the body.

Visceral techniques, which are used in the management of conditions affecting internal organs. These involve gentle and rhythmical stretching of the visceral areas.