Osteopaths view health and illness from a musculo-skeletal perspective. Osteopathy is a system of diagnosis and treatment that lays emphasis on the structural and functional integrity of the body. Physiologic principles are applied to palpate the tissues to diagnose inherent restrictions and flexibilities. Osteopaths claim to be able to read the histories of past traumas, illnesses and surgeries in the tissues of the body. Through a variety of techniques, joints are mobilised, muscle tension relieved, blood and nerve supply to tissues enhanced, the body’s own healing mechanisms facilitated and its capacity for compensation improved. Advice on posture and exercise may be provided to aid recovery, promote health and prevent recurrence of symptoms.
Osteopathy considers the interaction of structural organising dynamics and metabolic activities that give rise to form and function. It recognises the inherent intelligence and wisdom of the cell. It seeks to release the self-healing power that exists within the living organism. Osteopathy is the art of applying the scientific principles of anatomy and physiology.
Today, although much of osteopathy’s specialised body of knowledge is borrowed or shared with other professions, it may be unique in the way osteopaths apply it. It's suggested that:
a) osteopathy is based on palpation which has been refined over the last one and a half centuries. No other system except possibly chiropractic possesses this feature.
b) it is based on a way of looking at health and illness which, while possessing some of biomedicine’s models, is unique in that it is three dimensional. It studies the evolution of health, illness and disease utilising precipitating, predisposing and aggravating factors, using reductionism but from a holistic perspective.
c) osteopathy is unique in recognising a reciprocal relationship between structure and function. Osteopaths, whether they graduate with the knowledge or are even aware of it, contrive and attribute meanings to these terms that are unique to osteopathy. Much of osteopathic practice is from a musculo-skeletal perspective and what is often termed the treatment part is very much a continuum of the case history and the examination.
d) from a musculo-skeletal perspective, it is truly patient centred (which comes straight from alternative medicine) in that it is the patient’s tissues that inform the osteopath in what to do. Osteopaths often say that they have to put their hands on the patient to discover what is happening. It is patient empowering in that they can become aware that they do not have to suffer pain and that there are other ways to regard their health status.
The working concepts of osteopathy
1. The body is a functional unit, and the interrelationships between body-systems are so extensive that none can be considered in isolation.
2. There is a relationship between structure and function:
a. The structural integrity of the body is a reflection of the health status of the individual.
b. Changes in function, may lead to changes in structure.
c. Alteration of a structure will cause changes in function.
d. There are many compensatory processes of the body, which accommodate structural/functional changes without necessarily impeding the self-healing mechanisms.
3. The body is naturally sell-healing
4. When the self-healing mechanisms are impeded then dysfunction may ensue.
5. The self-healing mechanisms are affected by the potency of the neural pathways and circulatory systems.
6. Loss or reduction of these intrinsic self-healing mechanisms may lead eventually its a pathological state, the precursor of which is a pre-pathological state.
7. Osteopathic management intervenes principally at the pre-pathological stage but may also do so at the pathological stage, to facilitate the inherent self-healing mechanisms, by the balancing of structural-functional reciprocity.
8. An application of osteopathic precepts and principles results in a versatility of treatment approaches, including prevention, specific to the needs of each patient.
9. A dysfunction in one or more systems of the body (musculo/skeletal, visceral, neurological or psychological) might cause or influence a dysfunction in other systems of the body.
10. Osteopathic treatment promotes the optimal function of the neural-musculo-skeletal system, which influences all the systems of the body, including the viscera, which may also be treated directly.
Competences Required for Osteopathic Practice (CROP) 1993