Find The Health
When a patient walks into a doctor’s office, the usual focus is on the disease process. Andrew Taylor Still, D.O., founder of osteopathy, said “find the health … anyone can find disease.” Osteopathy is a hands-on approach to healing that involves a precise, carefully directed exploration. Dr. Still’s student, who pioneered the cranial concept, William Garner Sutherland D.O., encouraged osteopaths to explore in depth healing forces “not framed by human hands.”
Regardless of the type of disease or trauma that has occurred within the body, health can still be found. Such a viewpoint can be liberating for a patient whose life has become organized around a disease process or trauma that may even have occurred a long time ago. As we treat with our hands in osteopathy, we keep most of our attention on the healing forces in and surrounding the patient. We may use force in our treatments, but we never try to force things back into place.
We try to match with our hands the therapeutic forces that are already present with the patient. In this way, carefully palpating the body can lead to a release, a restoring of balance, that better connects body with mind and spirit. The patient’s own therapeutic process is then able to move from the background into the foreground.
Regardless of the type of disease or trauma that has occurred within the body, health can still be found. Such a viewpoint can be liberating for a patient whose life has become organized around a disease process or trauma that may even have occurred a long time ago. As we treat with our hands in osteopathy, we keep most of our attention on the healing forces in and surrounding the patient. We may use force in our treatments, but we never try to force things back into place.
We try to match with our hands the therapeutic forces that are already present with the patient. In this way, carefully palpating the body can lead to a release, a restoring of balance, that better connects body with mind and spirit. The patient’s own therapeutic process is then able to move from the background into the foreground.