About Osteopathy
What is the history of Osteopathy?
Osteopathy was created by Dr Andrew Taylor Still in 1874. In the late 1800s none of today's miracle drugs, such as antibiotics, were available. Out of necessity, Dr. Still looked first to nature's own ability to heal and through deep study of anatomy sort ways to access this ability within the body via manual medicine. Still saw this self-correcting potential as a cornerstone of his osteopathic philosophy. He envisioned a totally new medical system that acknowledges the relationships of the body, mind, emotions and spirit. What we now call the biopsychosocial model.
Still, a pioneer of his time, believed that the human body was to be treated as a whole, not as individual parts. He took into account his patients' lifestyles, sleep, and diet before treating them. He believed in the inherent natural cycles of the body and that nurturing and supporting one's function created changes on multiple levels.
Dr. Still realised that optimal health is possible only when all of the tissues and cells of the body function together in harmonious motion.
“To find health should be the objective of the doctor. Anyone can find disease”. – A.T. Still MD, DO