What is Osteopathy?
You might wonder - what even is osteopathy? Most people haven’t heard of it.
What Is Osteopathic Medicine? What is OMT?
Osteopathic medicine is a term to describe care provided by a DO, or doctor of osteopathic medicine. A DO is similar to an MD (medical doctor) in that both types of physicians graduate from 4-year medical school, and have additional training in post-graduate residency programs. We are all licensed physicians and have the legal authority to make diagnoses and treatments.
DOs have extra training in Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT), which is a way to use the hands to diagnose illness, injury, and encourage the body’s natural tendency toward self-healing. Most DOs don’t practice OMT, but those who do have a highly trained sense of touch to feel subtle changes in tension and tissue quality throughout the whole body.
Through hands-on palpation, I can also listen to the state of your autonomic nervous system, the system responsible for the fight, flight, freeze response. Many of us modern people are stuck in the sympathetic response, and osteopathy can gently return you to a more balanced state.
OMT can help patients with asthma, sinus infections, respiratory infections, migraines, infant feeding trouble, depression/anxiety, chronic disease management, end of life care, and more. OMT can also be used to prevent disease by optimizing balance and health of the fascia.
I do not use protocols. All treatment is personalized. Each treatment is unique, designed according to your current physical and mental state.
What OMT isn’t:
Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) often gets confused with chiropractic, craniosacral therapy, or physical therapy. There are many ways these philosophies and practices overlap. I have deep respect for practitioners from all backgrounds, and believe knowledge and presence is not limited to one kind of education over another.
OMT is not a quick fix, or a cure. I do not fix what’s wrong with you. In fact I am not really even looking for what’s wrong. Osteopathy is a philosophy and practice of holism - looking at the whole patient. When I evaluate patients I am looking for the health or vitality, what’s going right in your system. My job is to help remove barriers so your body and spirit can move in and do the healing.
What I bring, that I believe is unique, is the full-scope of a physician and a commitment to humility. I have education in anatomy, physiology, surgery, obstetrics, pathology, epidemiology, public health, human development, and bring this broad perspective when I consider you as an individual. The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t, and can’t understand. Importantly, I have a deep well of experience caring for people in many stages and walks of life. I have developed an intuitive sense of how the body functions, and the consequences of dysfunction.
How Can Osteopathy Help Me?
OMT is a way to promote optimal symmetry and flow through the body. Through gentle, hands-on treatments, I will help optimize blood flow, lymphatic flow, bone and muscle alignment, and release strains of the fascia or connective tissue. OMT can be used as part of a treatment plan for any illness or infection. It can also be used for preventive wellness.
A couple examples:
Respiratory Infection
I often use OMT to help people with upper respiratory infections. During a respiratory infection (like pneumonia or bronchitis) there is congestion in the lymphatic system, there is asymmetry in the ribs, there is a mismatch between sympathetic and parasympathetic inputs to the body. Through OMT we can optimize your body’s symmetry, balance, circulatory function, and use the body’s ability to heal itself to prevent progression of the infection. If you are on antibiotics or breathing treatments, OMT can help your body access and use the medications more effectively.
Nervous System Support
We live in a world full of chronic stress and unrealistic pressures. We are always on the go - always feeling behind. OMT is a way to help support your nervous system relax and find balance, supporting you as you find your path to groundedness. This kind of treatment would include osteopathy in the cranial field, which is where I place my hands on your skull to gently manipulate the fluids around your cranium, thereby balancing your nervous system.
Chronic Disease Management
Many folks who find their way to osteopathy feel they’ve been dismissed by conventional medical care. Chronic diseases - from migraines to diabetes to cancer and more - are conditions that do not necessarily have a “cure” but are also not automatically disabling. A person with a chronic disease learns to live with their condition. Osteopathy or OMT can help with comfort, function, pain management, and learning to live with a chronic illness.
History of Osteopathy
Osteopathy was developed in the late 1800s. The founder of osteopathy, Dr. A.T. Still, was a physician who was disappointed and disillusioned with the common medical practices of his time, which he felt were often unhelpful at best and harmful at worst. Tragically, he lost three children to bacterial meningitis, and felt there must be a better way to do medicine - and spent the rest of his life dedicated to this pursuit. Through careful study and observation, he realized he could help people improve their heath and wellness with only his hands. He started the first school of Osteopathy in 1892 with 21 students, including 6 women.
A.T. Still’s life encompassed a wide range of experiences, as farmer, hunter, inventor, physician, abolitionist, surgeon, legislator, author, father, and husband. He had a deep respect for nature and was one of the first western physicians to fully appreciate the body’s ability to heal itself. As a young person he spent time with the Shawnee tribe of indigenous people and it’s hypothesized that he incorporated aspects of their traditional bodywork into what would later become osteopathy.
Like many other instances of cultural appropriation, he did not credit the Shawnee tribe for sharing their knowledge, and the origins and lineage of osteopathy are not routinely taught in medical schools. Osteopathy is the root of several traditions of bodywork including chiropractic and craniosacral therapy, all which do not formally acknowledge their lineage. Millions of people have benefitted from this knowledge without proper acknowledgement. Therefore I will donate 1% of her profits to the Shawnee Tribe.
