History of Osteopathy

The term “osteopathy” is derived from the Greek words for “bone” (osteon) and “feeling” (pathos).

Osteopathy was first developed by Andrew Taylor Still (1828-1917), an American doctor, and son of a physician who travelled pioneering America during a period where epidemics caused repeated large-scale tragedies.

Dr Still became acutely aware of the lack of medical knowledge of disease. His first wife died in childbirth, 3 of his children died in a menigitis epidemic in 1864 and a fourth child died of pneumonia shortly afterward. These personal tragedies convinced Dr Still that medical practices of the day were inadequate and inspired him to conduct his own research into disease.

He was particularly struck by the fact that, during the repeated epidemics of his time, some of the population remained healthy, whilst others sickened and died.

His research led him to identify the human immune system as an important factor in a healthy individual, and developed his system of osteopathy based on a thorough knowledge of anatomy and the view that the best approach to treatment of disease was treatment of the body as a whole, rather than to focus on specific symptoms or a specific “diseased part” of the body.

Dr Still opened the first school of osteopathy in Missouri in 1892 and made a number of notable contributions to medical knowledge, including:

• identifying the human immune system as a key element in the maintenance of health, and developed a system for stimulating it naturally
• teaching that the physician should focus on the person as a whole, rather than on specific diseases or conditions
• being the first to welcome women and minorities into medical school
• predicting that the United States would have a major drug addiction problem within the century if physicians did not stop over-prescribing addictive drugs
• warning that women were far too often the victims of needless surgeries
• teaching that physicians should study prevention as well as cure
• he believed that disease in one body part affects all other parts

Cranial osteopathy is an extension and development of osteopathy advanced by William Garner Sutherland, DO (1873-1954)

Sutherland discovered the very slight rhythmic movements displayed by the bones of the skull, the spinal cord, and the fluids and membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

These rhythms of the central nervous system were, he discovered, discernable by touch, and carried significant information about the health of an individual.

He described these pulsations as the “Primary Respiratory Mechanism”-with 5 major features:

• The inherent rhythmic motion of the brain and spinal cord
• The fluctuation of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that bathes and nourishes the brain and spinal cord
• The shifting tensions of the membranous envelope (dura mater) surrounding the brain and spinal cord. This entire membranous structure acts as a unit and is called a “Reciprocal Tension Membrane”
• The inherent rhythmic motion of the cranial bones
• The involuntary motion of the sacrum (tailbone) between the ilia (hip bones)