Osteopathy

Abstract

Osteopathy was developed in 1874 by an American, Andrew Taylor Still (1828–1912). Still worked as a doctor in a small town in the mid-West of America, where he had become increasingly disenchanted with medicine and its ability to help patients. He himself watched three of his own children die from cerebrospinal meningitis. The idea of osteopathy grew from Still’s Christian faith, a sound practical knowledge of mechanics, and a history of inventing machinery. He saw the body as a machine made in God’s likeness and therefore perfect in design. Such a machine, he argued, could only become ill if it got out of adjustment. Restoration of normal function could be made via the muscles and joints. Ailments which seemingly had nothing to do with the spine — such as headaches, skin disorders and digestive disorders -were, in Still’s view, the result of the spinal column being out of position in some way. Therefore, he argued, manipulation of the spine that restored the proper alignment would successfully treat the condition.