Manual Osteopathy

What is Manual Osteopathy?

Manual Osteopathy is a form of drug-free non-invasive manual medicine that focuses on total body health by treating and strengthening the musculoskeletal framework, which includes the joints, muscles and spine. Its aim is to positively affect the body's nervous, circulatory and lymphatic systems. The goal of an osteopathic manual treatment is to restore the normal functioning of the affected areas of the body with somatic dysfunctions by stimulating a more appropriate healing process and interrelations between different systems of the human body (musculoskeletal, nervous, circulatory, pulmonary, digestive system etc).

History of Manual Osteopathy

Osteopathy was founded by Andrew Taylor Still, M.D., D.O. Dr. Still was the first who treated patients as a whole, searching for the causes of dysfunction rather the symptoms. Dr. Still founded the first school of osteopathy in Kirksville, Missouri in 1892. The model that was created by A.T. Still and that which is currently taught in the USA was modified somewhat early on by J. Martin Littlejohn, M.D., D.O., to exclude Pharmacotherapeutics and Surgery, which was carried to Europe and the rest of the world. The growth of Osteopathy since then has been tremendous and is currently practiced around the world, generally following the Littlejohn model.