Osteopathy

The origin of the word is from the Greek for bone (osteon) and suffering (pathos). 

In 1874 Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, a frontier physician, announced his theories about a new system of structural therapeutics - he called it osteopathy. 

The experiences of some of the medical practices of the day and the loss of 3 of his children to spinal meningitis led Still to believe current medicine was ineffective and there had to be another way. He devoted the next 30 years of this life to the development of what would become osteopathy.

After the civil war, Still became known as the ‘Lightning Bonesetter’ and his reputation for the ability to treat many conditions from dysentery to sciatica spread.

AT Still’s Methodist beliefs were in evidence with the school being open to ‘all creeds and both sexes.’ Indeed the first graduate was reported to be a female student.

Still believed that the body is considered as a whole and that each part affects every other part and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and if the structure of the body is compromised (for example through injury, overuse, strain), then it is very likely to have an adverse affect on its function manifesting as pain, stiffness, instability, etc.

He believed that the body is considered as a whole. Each part affects each and every other part and the whole is greater than simply the sum of its parts, and if the structure of the body is compromised (for example through injury, overuse, strain, etc.), then it is very likely to have an adverse affect on its function manifesting as pain, stiffness, instability, etc.

"An osteopath is only a human engineer, who should understand all laws governing his engine..." 

A.T. Still founder of osteopathy