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OSTEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES AND FINDING HEALTH
by Andrea Lugowski, B.A., B.Sc. (Hons) Ost., Registered Osteopath Hello Everyone! I have recently moved back to Canada from the UK, where, like the United States, osteopathy forms part of the front line of primary health care. In Canada I would say that the opposite is true. Most patients come as a last resort, having tried everything else. In fact, the question I am most often asked is: “What is osteopathy? And why is it so unknown?” Considering that osteopathy is one of the few Western complementary traditions, and that it was founded in the late 1800s in the United States, I often wonder the same myself. I think that the politics of clashing medical worlds are one reason, but more importantly I think that it is because osteopathy is not a prescriptive form of treatment. In other words, no two patients with the same condition will be treated in the same way. This makes any such tradition difficult to research, teach, and learn. At most osteopathic schools there are no prescriptive combinations of techniques taught for any condition. Instead, osteopaths are taught in-depth anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology, in addition to a wide range of manual techniques to work with organs, bones, muscles, connective tissue, fluid and neurological systems, and more. This knowledge comes together with the particular case of the patient to form an understanding of the patient’s condition that is dynamic and unique. To better understand the aims of osteopathic treatment I find that discussing the four main principles of osteopathy can be helpful: 1) THE BODY IS A UNIT This phrase is very important to osteopathic diagnosis. On a more general scale these words refer to the fact that our body, mind, and spirit are not separate from each other, or our environments. This phrase also holds the key to osteopathic diagnosis, referring to the fact that there are precise and multiple connections and relationships between all the systems of the body. For example, part of the nerves for the intestines comes all the way from the neck! So, a problem in one area can easily affect another. Quite often the area in which we experience symptoms is at the end of the line of many layers of compromised function in other areas, and it is the osteopath’s job to unravel these connections and help guide the body to its natural state of health, with manual osteopathic techniques. 2) THE BODY HAS ITS OWN SELF-REGULATING AND SELF- PROTECTING MECHANISMS This phrase points to the inner intelligence of our bodies. Another word for self-regulation in our bodies is homeostasis, and our homeostatic mechanisms are what keeps us alive. The precision of homeostasis is amazing. It is behind how our bodies always stay within very precise temperature and acid/base, or pH, ranges. It is part of the osteopaths’ role to work with a patient’s self-regulating mechanisms to help heal ailments and prevent the development of symptoms and disease. The body is incredible in how it self–protects. In fact, patients often complain of symptoms that are associated with these self-protecting mechanisms that have gone on for too long and no longer serve us. For example, a severe back injury will result in loss of movement for an extended period of time. In this time the body makes an effort to conserve energy, therefore protecting itself. One way it conserves energy is to replace muscle tissue with fat or harder connective tissue which require much less energy and offer structural support. This change in tissue composition helps in the short term but creates problems if the patient is not able to reenter into a very active life and rebuild their strength. Their range of motion lessens over time, and aches and pains become long-term chronic pain… all because the body was trying to help! Osteopathic techniques aim to restore the balance of these mechanisms in order to help the patient self-heal as they naturally strive towards balance. 3) STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION ARE RECIPROCALLY INTERRELATED This means that osteopaths view the body not only by the state and position of its structures, but by the way the body and organs move and work (function). The relationship between structure and function is a favourite discussion point for osteopaths, as it is a bit of a ‘chicken and the egg’ situation. In other words, if the structure is damaged, function (movement) is compromised, but if function is impaired, then structure is affected further, and so on. For example, a baby with colic usually has compression of the nerve that affects digestion. This is structure affecting function. A digestive system that is struggling will then exert stresses and strains on its connective tissue attachments, creating changes in structure. This is function affecting structure, and so the cycle continues. If we have structure and function working together we have movement and stillness in harmony. If we have motion, we have life. 4) TREATMENT CONSDERS THE PRECEEDING THREE PRINCIPLES Perhaps the most important consideration that guides many osteopaths is what is sometimes referred to as “the breath of life” or vital life force. This same concept is fundamental to Traditional Chinese Medicine and Native American Medicine, among others. It is the osteopath’s way of trying to understand that fundamental question: Why and how are we here? Somehow, no matter how much we endure in our lives, we are still able to connect with our vitality. Our tissues are alive and our mind is not separate from that picture. This ‘breath of life’ in us is our greatest intelligence and helps us uncover and manifest our true nature. Unlocking tightness in the body and bringing motion back into the body allows life and vitality to flow. I will leave you with a couple of quotes from the founder of osteopathy, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still. It is part of his instruction to his earliest students: To find health is the object of the practitioner. Anyone can find disease. (Still, 1892) An osteopath is taught that nature is to be trusted to the end. (Still, 1908) I hope that you all enjoy the change of seasons and manage to make it outside for a stroll… remember, life is motion! Andrea Lugowski, B.A., B.Sc. (Hons) Ost., Registered Osteopath |