Osteon (greek): bone;
Pathos (greek): the ability to evoke
emotion, passion

Osteopathy is a method with which examination and treatment are executed exclusively with the hands/manual.
Taking into account the personal history, individual development, and the current condition of life of the patient, tension(s),
bad postures and restricted moving ability
are sensed and treated individually and in most cases with smooth techniques.

In addition to the knowledge of human anatomy the therapist’s ability to visualise
is of importance, that is his/her imagination which is expressed through the work of his/her hands and its influence on the patient’s tissue.

What’s so special about osteopathy?

History of Osteopathy

What can be treated by osteopathy?

Osteopathy in Germany

The Basic Principles of Osteopathy

Many patients miss, within our system of medical treatment the feeling that their problems are really paid attention to. You often have to put up with long waiting periods before you get to see the doctor and often just for a few minutes.
There is no time for a thorough examination and comprehensive diagnosis. People searching for medical help often make the experience that the examinor does not even actually take a close look at them leave alone touch them at all.

In this context osteopathy offers many people an alternative to conventional medical treatment: the touching with the hands, the careful examination which takes into account the entire body, the exact appointments (without long waiting periods), osteopathy makes it possible to get to the bottom of the cause(s) of your complaints. Especially the longer period of treatment is of crucial significance.

All these conditions also enable a closer working relationship between therapist and patient which in most cases has a further positive effect on the treatment. – A trustworthy relationship is a principle necessity for a holistic cure of the human being.

The basis for the work of osteopathy today was laid about 120 years ago by the American
Dr. A.T. Still. Because of several deaths within his family, the exaggerated prescriptions of his
time and after studying some concepts of philosophy and natural sciences, the physician searched
for a new way to treat ill people.
Still collected and developed certain techniques and principles in treatmentwith the hands and
named his method osteopathy. 1892 Still founded a school to pass on his knowledge.

The American School of Osteopathy was at the same time the first medical institution in the United States to accept female students. This is a good example of the fact that Still’s commitment was not exclusively limited to the medical field.
His writings and theories are suffused with the battle for independency for the mind and individual freedom.

Besides many problems of the field of movement as for example stiff neck, sloping shoulders, painful sciatic nerve, lumbago, sports injuries, arthrosis, tension, rigid shoulder joints, and similar complaints osteopathy also addresses other systems with their malfunctions.
By means of treatment of the inner organs you can for example positively influence digestive problems, heartburn and burping, incontinence, period pains, functional heart complaints like tachycardia or also general physical states of tension.

Good indicators for an osteopathic treatment are furthermore head ache, sleep disorders, concentration problems, problems arising out of stress, lockjaw, and buzzing in the ear.

Acute infections, tumors, heavy injuries and massive mental or metabolic deseases may be – depending on the respective case - treated osteopathic in addition to a conventional medical treatment as agreed with the conventional physician.

In Germany, osteopathy did not catch on until 100 years after its emergence in the US. The first school was founded in the nineties but still there is no formal arrangement for the training and no specific professional group of its own as in other countries.

Osteopathy belongs to therapeutics which, according to German law, only physicians and non-medical practitioners are allowed to execute. Following their recommendation physiotherapists are also allowed to work osteopathically.

As the term osteopath is not patented, there is a multitude of different forms of training. The five-year training with a minimum of 1500 hours of instruction at one of the schools accredited by the Academy for Osteopathy (AfO) is one of the most widespread though.
The registered title D.O. is a further mark of quality. It means that a scholar has worked on and finished a scientific paper on a subject/topic which is part of and relevant for osteopathy as a field of scientific reseach.

Interaction of structure and function

To illustrate this idea you may think of a cupboard the doors of which are not aligned correctly (structure) so that they do not close properly – or vice versa: if the doors do not close properly,
it is quite probable that something is not right with the structure of the cupboard.

The biologist and cellular researcher Dr. Donald Ingber from Harvard University pointed out in his research work on cells the interaction between cellular structure and functions. You will always find it again: when the structure of a cell changes this has an influence on the cellular function and vice versa: when the function of a cell changes its structure will be influenced by it accordingly.

This basic osteopathic principle becomes very clear when you take a look at the treatment of the digestive organs: As the organs permanently glide to and fro because of the pressure imposed on them by breathing in and out, osteopathy tries to improve their function through an improvement of their ability to glide.

Self-healing ability

Our organism is permanently exposed to a diversity of influences. Basically has the principle ability to help itself and balance these factors. Pain and/or disease are a sign that this mechanism is not working properly any more and cannot cope with too many negative influences.

Osteopathy does not claim that it alone cures the ailments but rather that through the intervention of the therapist with his hands it helps the organism to regain its ability to help itself and furthermore to handle the negative influences and damages already caused.

Body as a Unit

Osteopathy does not comprehend health as a final state to strive for but as a dynamic balance.
It helps the body to find back this balance and to have the strength to compensate disturbing influences.
A body in dynamic balance is the result of a harmonious interplay between all involved structures. If this interplay is interrupted a state of imbalance results and at the weakest or most strained part of the body disease or malfunction may occur.
This also means that the place of origin is not necessarily identical with the part of the body where the trouble occurs. A blocked jaw joint might for example find expression in aching knees and vice versa.

By means of a careful physical examination the osteopath tries to find out the trouble-causing location and to re-integrate the respective part of the body.

The Law of the Artery (Life is Movement)

A free unhindered passage of all body fluids and impulses means nutrition and thus life.
If tension causes a lack of nutrient supply leading to failure to dispose of metabolic waste within certain areas of the body, this may result in malfunctions or diseases of the respective parts.
The osteopathic treatment will try to re-establish balance so that in all areas of the body a continuous nutrition supply and disposal can be achieved.

The Patient not the Disease

In the focus of osteopathic treatment stands the human being and not his/her current illness. Moreover, osteopathy always considers the general function of the entire body.
Experimental sciences and their relevant research results are also taken into account.
They do not, however, stand in the foreground of the treatment. The name of the disease is not as important as the approach to the patient as an individual with a personal development and a respective specific surrounding.

„That is the only way to garantee that the fellow human being as patient does not become a prisoner to a definite-considered clinical construction of reality of the therapist.“
(Peter Sommerfeld)