Manual Osteopathy
I recently have made a life changing decision in my persuit for knowledge and education. For the last several years I have been accumulating knowledge and tools that allow me to help others in this crazy journey of life. In the passed several years I have studied and been certified in Hypnotherapy, Life Coaching, Massage Therapy, Reiki, as well as training in Polarity Energy Technique and Ayurveda.
I have been wanting to create a space, or a place where people can come and receive techniques that assist them in whatever issue or dis-ease is affecting them.
On my journey I frequently thought I could take my skills and apply them to the medical community if I were to become a Doctor. I quickly realized that that would take several additional years of study and about $100,000 more in tuition, not to mention spending long hours away form my wife and three young children. I continued to study and came across the story of Dr. Andrew Taylor Still. I knew about Osteopathy and "DOs" from some colleagues I had had the pleasure to work with at a clinic. So, I was intrigued to read about the father of Osteopathy and how it came to be.
As a medical doctor, Dr. Still realized that something was missing in the treatment of his patients. He saw that during a patient encounter there was very little focus on the actual patient's overall wellbeing. He Spent over 10 years researching and studying the human body and searching for better ways to treat people. Through his research he found that by working with the musculoskeletal system the body's own ability to function and heal was greatly increased. He found that when he included this physical process with his patients that there was a new level of treatment and healing accuring. He promoted this new philosophy of whole patient treatment rather than treating the disease. In late 1800s Dr. Still opened the first Osteopathic school in Mossouri. He began teaching Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine to other doctors and the idea grew like wild fire.
After several years the medical community wanted to regulate this new medicine and so Osteopathy became a medically regulated and licensed modality. During this time there were a number of Osteopaths who did not want to follow the allopathic medicine way. They wanted to continue treating the body as a whole and not dilute the treatment with pharmaceuticals and surgery. Once this new regulation went into affect this group left the United States and took their practices to Europe to continue treating people the way Dr. Still had intended. This was the beginning of the seperation between the "American Osteopathy" and "Manual or European Osteopathy" treatment style. While American DOs are trained in OMT the focus is on the allopathic medicine. A DO can hold any medical position and specialize in any medical field. Many DOs are surgeons and treat their patient identical to their MD counterparts.
As I researched and studied I had peviously decided that I would like to become a DO, that that would allow me to treat patients as a whole and give me the credentials necessary to practice and treat patients.
The main part of this education was the OMM process that would allow me to build upon my knowledge of working with the body systems and treat people at a new level.
As I started looking at the process of getting into DO medical school and realizing what it was going to take, I stumbled upon the National Academy of Osteopathy. This is an institution that focuses on training Manual Osteopaths in the traditional osteopathic way. As I looked into it more and more I realized that this was a great route for me and gave the the training I was searching for.
Manual Osteopathy allows the practitioner and the patient to work together to create a whole body treatment plan. By engaging the body itself the practitioner can instigate an awareness in the body that will allow it to return to homeostasis. The body in and of itself has ahomeostatic state. This means that with outside influence our bodies would be virtually perfect. When we introduce our bodies to disease, accidents, trauma, sitting at desks all day, driving in cars, roller coasters, extreme exercising and weightlifting, etc. we see that the body system starts to struggle to maintain its homeostatic state. With Osteopathic Manual treatment the practitioner can facilitate and coach a patient (and their body) through exercise, different mobilization techniques, and structural treatment. When a practitioner works with a patient they use structure and range of motion to help the body return to its natural state. By enabling the body and intern, the nervous system to realign the whole system can be rejuvinated and revitalize the entire person.
This is what I love about Manual Osteopathy and othe body modalities, they rely on the body to be a part of the treatment. OMT gives the patient the ability to be apart of the treatment and not just a bystandard as the physician dictates they they should do or take for the symptoms they are manifesting.
I am very excited to beable to add Manual Osteopathy to my tools and use it to help others in their healing.
As I complete my DOMP program I will make this modality available to everyone who is interested or seeking health. I believe there is a place for allopathic medicine, medication, and even surgery. But I beleive that a great number of the issues we have on a day to day basis can be dealt with and over =come if we can get our bodies back in alignment and work at their optimal levels.
Look into this treatment. I think you will be surprised at what you find about Osteopathy being a regular and sought after treatment throughout the world.
