What is Osteopathy?

"Science isn't an exercise in cold-blooded rationality. Scientists are - and have always been - emotional, creative, intuitive, whole human beings, asking questions about a world that was never made to be catalogued and systematized" - Merlin Sheldrake

At present the Osteopathic profession is going through a bit of an identity crisis. This has come from a good place - the need and desire to provide specifically osteopathic, UK-produced, evidence-based research, to enable us to be taken more seriously by and incorporated into the NHS as a widely-available therapy.

However, this has led to debate and reflection on what it is we, as a profession, offer that others don't; what makes us, us.

At the heart of osteopathy, whatever style is practised, there lie the osteopathic principles:

1. The body is a unit: the person is a unit of mind, body and spirit.

2. It is capable of self-regulation, self-healing and health maintenance.

3. Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.

4. Rational treatment is based upon an understanding of the basic principles of body unity, self-regulation and the interrelationship of structure and function

Of these, the one I quote the most is number 3 - that structure and function are reciprocally interrelated. This means that if the body structure is sound then the body can function properly. An example would be cervicogenic headaches - restriction in the neck causing headaches due to tight muscles and restricted blood flow and nerve conduction. One way osteopaths can look at the body is as a tensegrity structure. This is a structure where every part has to be in balance for the whole to work; it allows for bend and stretch in a balanced way.

However, big life events, the biggest of which is birth, can push the body beyond the limits of it's ability to bounce back. Other factors which may cause a disruption of the tensegrity structure are illness, accidents and operations. During cranial and biodynamic treatments, I find the body's "happy place" - the position of ease - and hold that space until the body can self-correct. Usually, this needs to happen in stages, and so more than one treatment session is necessary.

For me, this is what distinguishes osteopathy from other, seemingly similar, therapies - the ability to hold the whole of the patient - every system, every tissue, and every process - in our hands and allow them to heal themselves. We facilitate whatever change that they are capable of making at that precise point. Parents who bring babies to me often ask what the end point of the course of treatment will be; my answer is that what I am aiming for is for the baby to get their physiological needs met in a healthy way, at that point in their development and with an eye to creating space for future growth. This explanation holds for all ages, since humans are constantly developing and changing at all stages of life.

"Life is nested biomes all the way down" - Merlin Sheldrake