THAT is what Osteopathy is.
Osteopathy was founded by Andrew Taylor Still, MD. He was a physician and surgeon who became frustrated with the use of medicinal drugs for treatment. He began to see that children in the civil war, where doctors were shut out, did not die. Having an idea to provide a natural way of healing, he first practiced osteopathy in 1874. He would never look back at his previous medical training and instead lead the way for a new direction of healing. His discoveries came through a long series of ideas and practices. His first idea came when he was only 10 years old, and was suffering from a headache. He had created a swing between two trees but found his headache was too severe to play. Instead, he placed a pillow on the rope and used it as a pillow to rest his head. After rocking to sleep, he woke with his headache gone. Later he understood that he had created a mechanism to suspend the occipital nerves, which had been squeezed by the tight neck muscles, allowing the natural flow of blood and easing the swelled muscles. He had created a way to allow his body to return to a normal state, giving harmony to the flow of arterial blood, and ultimately easing his pain. He had discovered a natural, drug-free treatment for pain. This technique, in an updated and more scientific form, is still used in osteopathic practice.
Osteopathy is a system of medicine-free manual therapy techniques. It is a holistic method of allowing the body to heal itself, by way of the following principals:
1. The body is a unit of function,
2. Structure and function are interrelated at all levels,
3. The body is self-healing and self-protecting,
4. Rational treatment of disease is based on the three preceding principals.
Osteopathy involves gentle manipulation of the spine, joints and soft tissues. It’s methods free restrictions to bring the body into natural balance where it can function optimally. Its principals pertain to the muscular, nervous and circulatory systems.
There are many known benefits of Osteopathy. It promotes deeper breathing, which can naturally release toxins within the body. Breathing provides the body with essential oxygen that is necessary for cell life, while breathing deeply can enhance the update of oxygen intake. Research shows that a reduction in the circulation of oxygen can result in headaches and muscle aches that may accumulate into a more significant issue over time.
Osteopathy treatment also improves blood and lymph circulation. Still’s techniques focused on the mechanical removal of obstructions or restrictions to free circulation of fluids and the elements carried in those fluids. The founder of Osteopathy believed that once the mechanical blockages were removed, the free circulation of all the fluids of the body would naturally return. Still’s philosophy of the body’s self-regulation and self-healing processes involved allowing free flow of fluids. This as well can help the body with the process of toxin removal, and improved circulation may aid in the body’s natural healing processes and growth.
Andrew Still maintained the philosophy that the body can operate smoothly over the course of the lifespan if it is properly maintained and every living organism possesses the ability to produce all of the necessary chemicals and materials to cure itself of ailments.
In my own quest for natural living, I found the appeal of osteopathy. I too prefer to use drug-free ways to treat symptoms of pain or dysfunction. My research into natural, alternative methods to stay healthy afforded me a way to avoid traditional medicine. However, I prefer to be proactive rather than reactive. And that is where osteopathy is so profound. It can allow the body to self-regulate to encourage optional function thereby preventing dysfunction from occurring in the first place. Rather than treating a symptom, osteopathy can prevent that symptom from occurring. That is what brought me to osteopathy and why I continue to immerse myself in Still's teachings.
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