What is Osteopathy?
Osteopathy is a system of diagnosis and treatment that although based on traditional medical knowledge (anatomy, physiology, ect ..) that does not require the use of drugs or of surgery, but through manipulations and specific maneuvers proves effective for the prevention, evaluation and treatment of disorders affecting not only the neuro-musculoskeletal system, but also cranio-sacral (link between the skull, the vertebral column and the sacrum) and visceral (actions on the mobility of the visceral organs) ).
Osteopathy considers the symptom an alarm bell and aims to identify the cause behind the appearance of the symptom itself, unlike the allopathic medicine that focuses its efforts on the search and elimination of the symptom.
The objectives of the osteopath are to restore mobility and motility (articular, fascial, visceral, etc.) where they have been compromised; improve blood supply and venous and lymphatic; return to optimize oxygenation and cellular nutrition; normalize the interaction of the central and peripheral nervous system with the immune, endocrine and musculoskeletal system; balance and coordinate the system of the 6 diaphragms and their rhythm (the plantar, pelvic, thoraco-abdominal, superior thoracic, ioideo and tentorium cerebri) diaphragm.
A bit of history.
The term osteopathy was coined in 1874 by the American physician Andrew Taylor Still. For Still, the bone was only the starting point of the pathological conditions and therefore of suffering: "I reasoned that the bone "Osteon" was the starting point from which i was to ascertain the cause of pathological conditions, so i combined the "Osteon" with "Pathy" and had as a result "Osteopathy"(1) but he himself then defined the word osteopathy as an error("You wonder what Osteopathy is, you look in the medical dictionary and find its definition "Bone disease"(1)).
Many believe that osteopathy involves only the bones, but in reality the osteopath works on all the structures of the body (joints, viscera, muscles, connective tissue, etc.).
How does it come in Europe and Italy?
John Martin Littlejohn (a student of A.T. Still) founded the British School of Osteopathy in London in 1917. In 1951 Paul Geny inaugurates the first school of osteopathy in France. Finally in 1981 Alain Bernard (a French osteopath) introduced her to Italy, where in 1983 Eddy Deforest organized the first course of osteopathy.
References
(1) Still, A.T. (1996): Autobiography of A.T. Still, 4th Edition. Indianapolis: American Academy of Osteopathy.
