The name osteopathy stems from the Latin ‘osteon’ for ‘structure’ (often perceived as ‘bone’), and ‘pathos’ for ‘passion for’ or ‘suffering or dysfunction of’. Osteopaths are often thought of as ‘bone doctors’, but our speciality or passion is for structure as a whole.
The name was chosen by the founder of osteopathy, Dr Andrew Taylor Still, to recognise the importance of a healthy structure in the body’s functioning and its wellness in general.
From the earliest to the most advanced medicines, it is recognised that the body has the ability to treat itself. There is still no substitute for the immense pharmacy that the body has at its disposal, and no drugs are even close to the purity and perfection of those it produces.
Dr Still was a licensed physician in the frontier of the USA who had always been fascinated by human anatomy and the science of healing. He went on to pursue a life of study and practise in medicine and osteopathy.
He was born in 1828 and was brought up in and around Macon County, Missouri. His father was a preacher and country doctor, looking after the bodies and souls of those in his local area. It was from him that he received his first medical training. He then went on to attend and graduate from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Kansas.
Dr Still was a typical frontier physician, like most of his colleagues, he did many things besides practice medicine: farming, mechanical work and fighting in the Civil War.
The name was chosen by the founder of osteopathy, Dr Andrew Taylor Still, to recognise the importance of a healthy structure in the body’s functioning and its wellness in general.
From the earliest to the most advanced medicines, it is recognised that the body has the ability to treat itself. There is still no substitute for the immense pharmacy that the body has at its disposal, and no drugs are even close to the purity and perfection of those it produces.
Dr Still was a licensed physician in the frontier of the USA who had always been fascinated by human anatomy and the science of healing. He went on to pursue a life of study and practise in medicine and osteopathy.
He was born in 1828 and was brought up in and around Macon County, Missouri. His father was a preacher and country doctor, looking after the bodies and souls of those in his local area. It was from him that he received his first medical training. He then went on to attend and graduate from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Kansas.
Dr Still was a typical frontier physician, like most of his colleagues, he did many things besides practice medicine: farming, mechanical work and fighting in the Civil War.
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Dr Still experienced a particularly dark period in the medical history of the US. His experience as an army doctor during the Civil War in 1861 led him to become very concerned over the way soldiers were treated for their injuries.
After the end of the war he was still practising medicine. He cared for both settlers and Native Americans in his medical practice. He faced many epidemics, such as cholera, malaria, pneumonia, smallpox, diphtheria and tuberculosis.
When his wife and three of their children were claimed by spinal meningitis, it drove him further onto discovering why people became sick. He searched for a more complete and ultimately better form of medicine.
In 1874 he first articulated the basic osteopathic principals. He studied good health, rather than diseases, as the basis for more clearly understanding the disease process. The ideas he uses date back to Hippocrates, the father of medicine.
Dr Still recognised the body’s ability to heal itself and that supporting this process through preventative medicine was a core factor in healthcare. The enormous significance of the musculoskeletal system in whole body health, keeping fit and eating well are other key elements. The unity of all body parts is still seen as the most fundamental statement of osteopathy.
It seemed uncontroversial to have a system of supporting natural health, but there were many critics and factions within the medical practitioners at the time and the era abounded with mistrust.
Faced with cynicism towards his developing science, Dr Still became a roaming physician, first through Kansas, then to Missouri, practising his mechanical skills and talking to all that would listen as he went.
His treatments quickly began to speak for themselves. Using manipulation methods to improve circulation and function, he initially used fewer, then no drugs, and eventually spoke out against nearly all of them.
By 1889 the large numbers of people travelling to his recently founded infirmary were drawing more attention to his approach and the validity of his treatments. He began to gain more respect and understanding from the public and medical practitioners alike.
The quantity of patients and the demand for osteopathy was so high that he was forced to stay in Kirksville, Missouri, where three years later he opened the American School of Osteopathy.
He aimed for excellence in knowledge and was often quoted as saying, “We teach you anatomy in all its branches, that you may be able to have and keep a living picture before your mind all the time, so you can see all joints, ligaments, muscles, glands, arteries, veins, lymphatic, fascia superficial and deep, all organs, how they are fed, what they must do, and why they are expected to do a part, and what would follow in case that part was not well done and on time.”
Since this time, many institutions around the world have opened to teach osteopathy, and the practice, research and development of the science has never stopped.
The next generation of osteopaths carried on the work with the various aspects of osteopathy, each contributing to its growth. They include such pioneers as Viola Frymann D.O., Rollin Becker D.O., Thomas Schooley D.O., Harold I. Magoun D.O., William Garland Sutherland D.O. and John Martin Littlejohn D.O. to name but a few.
After the end of the war he was still practising medicine. He cared for both settlers and Native Americans in his medical practice. He faced many epidemics, such as cholera, malaria, pneumonia, smallpox, diphtheria and tuberculosis.
When his wife and three of their children were claimed by spinal meningitis, it drove him further onto discovering why people became sick. He searched for a more complete and ultimately better form of medicine.
In 1874 he first articulated the basic osteopathic principals. He studied good health, rather than diseases, as the basis for more clearly understanding the disease process. The ideas he uses date back to Hippocrates, the father of medicine.
Dr Still recognised the body’s ability to heal itself and that supporting this process through preventative medicine was a core factor in healthcare. The enormous significance of the musculoskeletal system in whole body health, keeping fit and eating well are other key elements. The unity of all body parts is still seen as the most fundamental statement of osteopathy.
It seemed uncontroversial to have a system of supporting natural health, but there were many critics and factions within the medical practitioners at the time and the era abounded with mistrust.
Faced with cynicism towards his developing science, Dr Still became a roaming physician, first through Kansas, then to Missouri, practising his mechanical skills and talking to all that would listen as he went.
His treatments quickly began to speak for themselves. Using manipulation methods to improve circulation and function, he initially used fewer, then no drugs, and eventually spoke out against nearly all of them.
By 1889 the large numbers of people travelling to his recently founded infirmary were drawing more attention to his approach and the validity of his treatments. He began to gain more respect and understanding from the public and medical practitioners alike.
The quantity of patients and the demand for osteopathy was so high that he was forced to stay in Kirksville, Missouri, where three years later he opened the American School of Osteopathy.
He aimed for excellence in knowledge and was often quoted as saying, “We teach you anatomy in all its branches, that you may be able to have and keep a living picture before your mind all the time, so you can see all joints, ligaments, muscles, glands, arteries, veins, lymphatic, fascia superficial and deep, all organs, how they are fed, what they must do, and why they are expected to do a part, and what would follow in case that part was not well done and on time.”
Since this time, many institutions around the world have opened to teach osteopathy, and the practice, research and development of the science has never stopped.
The next generation of osteopaths carried on the work with the various aspects of osteopathy, each contributing to its growth. They include such pioneers as Viola Frymann D.O., Rollin Becker D.O., Thomas Schooley D.O., Harold I. Magoun D.O., William Garland Sutherland D.O. and John Martin Littlejohn D.O. to name but a few.
In the early 1900s, William Garner Sutherland D.O., who was trained by Dr Still, continued the profession’s development, researching and practising in the field of cranial osteopathy in what was called the Cranio-Sacral Functional Unit.
President Theodore Roosevelt received a successful osteopathic treatment which helped its benefits to became officially recognised in the USA. The later trend of osteopathy in the United States was towards the practise of medicine and surgery, veering away from the pure origins of the discipline and the desire of its founder. Now the American Academy of Osteopathy is doing everything it can to address this and preserve its inherent potential and clear philosophy.
Dr John Martin Littlejohn, another of Dr Still’s original students, took osteopathy to Europe in 1917. He founded the British School of Osteopathy in London, which was subsequently joined by the British College of Naturopathy and Osteopathy and the European School of Osteopathy in Kent. Today, osteopathy is well established in the UK and is an important, integrated part of the medical system. The Osteopathic Act (1993) ensures British osteopaths the equivalent status as doctors of medicine or dentists and enforces the relevant public safety guidelines.
The profession spread into France as early as 1923 where it became well established and so other teaching establishments proliferated through Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal, Italy and Spain.
In New Zealand, osteopathy was cemented as an 'Allied Healthcare' which was established by the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act (2003). The principal purpose of this Act is to protect the health and safety of members of the public by providing for mechanisms to ensure that health practitioners are competent and fit to practise their professions. The Osteopathic Council of NZ are tasked to oversee our profession.
The recognition of osteopathic techniques and principals is growing and more people are accepting and working with osteopathic practitioners the world over. The World Health Organisation recognises the osteopathic concept of somatic dysfunction as being scientifically proven, and the British Medical Association also recognises osteopathy as a discrete medical discipline.
The profession owes a great debt to numerous courageous, well-educated and skilful practitioners throughout the ages, each adding to the momentum and spreading the benefits of osteopathy further and further afield.
President Theodore Roosevelt received a successful osteopathic treatment which helped its benefits to became officially recognised in the USA. The later trend of osteopathy in the United States was towards the practise of medicine and surgery, veering away from the pure origins of the discipline and the desire of its founder. Now the American Academy of Osteopathy is doing everything it can to address this and preserve its inherent potential and clear philosophy.
Dr John Martin Littlejohn, another of Dr Still’s original students, took osteopathy to Europe in 1917. He founded the British School of Osteopathy in London, which was subsequently joined by the British College of Naturopathy and Osteopathy and the European School of Osteopathy in Kent. Today, osteopathy is well established in the UK and is an important, integrated part of the medical system. The Osteopathic Act (1993) ensures British osteopaths the equivalent status as doctors of medicine or dentists and enforces the relevant public safety guidelines.
The profession spread into France as early as 1923 where it became well established and so other teaching establishments proliferated through Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Portugal, Italy and Spain.
In New Zealand, osteopathy was cemented as an 'Allied Healthcare' which was established by the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act (2003). The principal purpose of this Act is to protect the health and safety of members of the public by providing for mechanisms to ensure that health practitioners are competent and fit to practise their professions. The Osteopathic Council of NZ are tasked to oversee our profession.
The recognition of osteopathic techniques and principals is growing and more people are accepting and working with osteopathic practitioners the world over. The World Health Organisation recognises the osteopathic concept of somatic dysfunction as being scientifically proven, and the British Medical Association also recognises osteopathy as a discrete medical discipline.
The profession owes a great debt to numerous courageous, well-educated and skilful practitioners throughout the ages, each adding to the momentum and spreading the benefits of osteopathy further and further afield.
Other points of interest
There are two distinct schools of thought regarding medicine, originating from the Greeks. The most famous is that of Hippocrates. He focused on the health and uniqueness of the individual and stated that studying and maintaining well-being was the way to treat any illness.
The second and less acknowledged school comes from the town of Knidos. There the emphasis was on destroying the disease that invaded the body and that external intervention was the way towards health. Medicine was applied once the disease was present.
Interestingly enough, modern Western medicine recognises Hippocrates as its father while applying an obviously more Knidian approach.
Dr Still reaffirmed the Hippocratic approach to medicine. His belief that the body is a unit and should be treated as a whole referred back to this. The osteopathic approach is that bodily imbalances lie behind the illness and that only by treating these the body will be free to fight the disease itself.
As a free thinking man, Dr Still was the first to welcome minorities and women into medical school. He warned that women especially were regularly the victims of needless surgery and warned that the USA would have a major drug addiction problem during this century if doctors did not stop over prescribing addictive drugs.
There are two distinct schools of thought regarding medicine, originating from the Greeks. The most famous is that of Hippocrates. He focused on the health and uniqueness of the individual and stated that studying and maintaining well-being was the way to treat any illness.
The second and less acknowledged school comes from the town of Knidos. There the emphasis was on destroying the disease that invaded the body and that external intervention was the way towards health. Medicine was applied once the disease was present.
Interestingly enough, modern Western medicine recognises Hippocrates as its father while applying an obviously more Knidian approach.
Dr Still reaffirmed the Hippocratic approach to medicine. His belief that the body is a unit and should be treated as a whole referred back to this. The osteopathic approach is that bodily imbalances lie behind the illness and that only by treating these the body will be free to fight the disease itself.
As a free thinking man, Dr Still was the first to welcome minorities and women into medical school. He warned that women especially were regularly the victims of needless surgery and warned that the USA would have a major drug addiction problem during this century if doctors did not stop over prescribing addictive drugs.