OSTEOPATHY

Osteopathy uses only the therapist’s hands as its tool for treatment. It is a functional, holistic and complete system of health care. Based on anatomy, physiology and touch, osteopathy promotes health by correcting mobility imbalances within, and between, the structures of the body (muscles, bones, ligaments, organs, fascia). Osteopathy may be used either as a preventive therapy or as a curative one.

Osteopathy was founded in 1874 by an American physician, Andrew Taylor Still, who defined it with the words « Movement – Matter – Mind ».

He established four main principles :

• Structure governs function. Any disruptions in the body’s structure may lead to locomotive, organic or visceral issues and illness.
• The law of arteries is absolute. If blood circulation, namely the artery’s circulation, works normally, the disease will not appear.
• Homeostasis, the process by which every living thing makes continual adjustments to keep itself in a stable condition, and function to the best of its ability. The human being possesses self-regulatory mechanisms.
• The body is a complete unit. Andrew Taylor Still emphasised not only the unity and interdependance of each and every part of the body, but also the unity between the body and the mind.
Osteopathy can help treat and maintain all the major human systems, such as endocrinal, nervous and locomotive. It also offers an effective treatment for a wide range of pathologies.