What is Osteopathy?
Osteopathy is a hands-on therapy that is used to reduce the strain patterns in the body.
It was created by Andrew Taylor Still, a Surgeon in the American Civil War, in 1874.
He was the son of a frontier doctor and lost his wife and children to Spinal Meningitis.
Osteopathy makes the link between environment and health. The practitioner can use they’re knowledge of Musculo-Skeletal anatomy to balance dis-ease, tissue stress patterns via hands on manipulation.
Osteopathy is a holistic practice in that it treats the body as a whole, rather than considering it a sum of its’ component parts. It works with the bodies’ own healing mechanism, and self awareness.
The aim of osteopathy is to encourage well-being and integration within the body, which creates the potential for the patient’s health to re-balance, and for stress to be released. The body has an inner wisdom, it knows when it feels right, and it knows when it feels wrong.
Manipulation is a small part of osteopathy, with more emphasis being placed on the stretching and articulation of muscles, joints and ligament tension.
For more information, please take a look at The History of Osteopathy.
Copyright Lynne Aitken 2026
