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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.
This therapy is a unique holistic (whole body) approach to
health care. Osteopaths do not simply concentrate on treating the
problem area, but use manual techniques to balance all the systems
of the body, to provide overall good health and wellbeing.
Osteopathy is an approach to healthcare that emphasizes the
role of the musculoskeletal system in health and disease. It is
practiced in the United Kingdom, the rest of the European Union,
Israel, Canada, and Australia. Osteopathy is not to be confused
with the historically related but now distinct field, osteopathic
medicine in the United States.
In most countries, osteopathy is a form of complementary
medicine, emphasizing a holistic approach and the skilled use of a
range of manual and physical treatment interventions in the
prevention and treatment of |
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disease. In practice, this most commonly relates to
musculoskeletal problems such as back and neck pain. Osteopathic
principles teach that treatment of the musculoskeletal system
(bones, muscles and joints) facilitates the recuperative powers of
the body. Principles of Osteopathy
These are the eight major principles of osteopathy and are
widely taught throughout the international osteopathic community.
- The body is a unit.
- Structure and function are reciprocally inter-related.
- The body possesses self-regulatory mechanisms.
- The body has the inherent capacity to defend and repair
itself.
- When the normal adaptability is disrupted, or when
environmental changes overcome the body’s capacity for self
maintenance, disease may ensue.
- The movement of body fluids is essential to the maintenance
of health.
- The nerves play a crucial part in controlling the fluids of
the body.
- There are somatic components to disease that are not only
manifestations of disease, but also are factors that contribute
to maintenance of the disease state.
These principles are not held by osteopathic physicians to be
empirical laws; they are thought to be the underpinnings of the
osteopathic philosophy on health and disease.
Osteopathic Treatment
The goal of Osteopathic manipulative medicine is the
resolution of what many osteopaths call somatic dysfunction in an
attempt to aid the body's own recuperative faculties. Osteopathic
manual treatment of the musculoskeletal system employs a diverse
array of techniques. These are normally employed together with
dietary, postural, and occupational advice, as well as counseling
in an attempt to help patients recover from illness and injury, in
an attempt to minimise or manage pain and disease.
Benefits of Osteopathy
Osteopathic treatment in itself is not 'preventative'.
Osteopaths respect the body's natural ability as a self-regulating
mechanism and only intervene when pain or discomfort is present.
The benefits of osteopathy are the general improvement in mobility
and structural stability of the body. In turn, other systems of
the body such as the circulatory, nervous and lymphatic systems
function more effectively and for a number of general conditions,
minimal treatment is required. |
