Kauai Osteopathic Services offers answers to the most frequently asked questions about Osteopathy.

Kauai Osteopathic Services - Osteopathy questions and answers

Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, the father of Osteopathic Medicine

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Lisa R. Chun, D.O.

Click on the question below to find the answer.

1. What is Osteopathy?
2. What are the osteopathic principles?
3. What is an Osteopath or D.O?
4. What is Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine or OMM?
5. Does OMM work?
6. What is Cranial Osteopathy?
7. What conditions can Osteopathy and Osteopathic Manipulation help?
8. What happens during treatment?
9. Are there any side effects after treatment?
10. How long does it take to get better?

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1. What is osteopathy?

Osteopathy is a "whole person," or holistic, approach to medicine. Osteopathic physicians or doctors of osteopathic medicine (D.O,s) are fully licensed physicians and surgeons. Instead of just treating specific symptoms or illnesses, they can assess the overall health of their patients including their home and work environments and past experiences. This progressive practice also recognizes that your physical, mental, emotional, relational, and spiritual states affect your whole health.

Osteopathy incorporates the ever-expanding scientific and observational knowledge base, which includes behavioral, clinical, physical, spiritual, and biologic information. As a result, many osteopaths practice in various medical and surgical fields, and many are also open to and skilled in other health and healing modalities including nutrition, oriental medicine, acupuncture, etc. Osteopathy is a profession concerned with the establishment and maintenance of health as well as the prevention and alleviation of disease. This gives it a "holistic" standing, a bridge between conventional and complimentary health fields.

Andrew Taylor Still, M.D. founded the osteopathic profession during the late 1800s with the belief that the body has an innate and natural healing ability. He observed the natural world and the natural workings of the human body. These observations led to the birth of the profession and the term "osteopathy," ("osteo," or bone, is the densest part of the physical body).

2. What are the osteopathic principles?

· Do no harm.
· The person is a unit in which structure, function, mind, and spirit are mutually and reciprocally interdependent.
· The body tends to be self-regulatory, and self-healing in the face of disease.
· Adequate function of the body systems depends upon the unimpeded circulatory and endocrine mechanisms, nerve impulses, and other brain and nerve influences.
· A rational treatment regimen is based on these principles.
· Physicians help restore the body's maximal function thereby enhancing wellness and assisting in injury and disease recovery. Physicians should not hinder nature's attempts towards recovery.

3. What is an osteopath or D.O.?

Osteopaths or Doctors of Osteopathy (D.O.s), like M.D.s, are fully qualified physicians licensed to perform surgery and prescribe medications in all 50 states. D.O.s comprise a separate, yet equal branch of American and international medical care. Together, D.O.s and M.D.s enhance the state of care available worldwide. D.O.s and M.D.s are alike in many ways. They both:

-Have a four-year undergraduate degree with an emphasis on scientific courses.
-Complete four years of basic medical education.
-Can choose to practice in a specialty area of medicine -- such as psychiatry, surgery or obstetrics -- after completing a residency program, which requires an additional two to six or more years of training.
-Must pass comparable national and state licensing examinations.
-Practice in fully accredited and licensed health care facilities.

4. What is Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine or OMM?

Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) is a specialty of osteopathy that emphasizes a hands-on approach to locate, diagnose and treat imbalances in the body. OMM recognizes that a person's physical body can manifest a state of disease. There is an understanding that a person is a complex being and that events and traumas can register as signatures or patterns in the body. These patterns can be felt by an osteopath skilled in this specialty. Osteopaths help to normalize these adaptive patterns, which may no longer serve the patient. OMM is helpful at all ages and stages of life, during both health and disease.

5. Does OMM work?

Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) has a long history. Scientific and clinical research shows that OMM works for many people and many conditions. Patients have found OMM to be helpful in a variety of illnesses, such as the effects of trauma, various musculoskeletal problems, menstrual pain, scoliosis, sciatica, and some postpartum problems. Newborns and children with nursing problems, colic, recurring ear infections, and behavioral and learning difficulties have also benefited from OMM.

6. What is Cranial Osteopathy?

Cranial Osteopathy is a form of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine that was first used in the 1930s. It relates and connects the head and its contents to the rest of the body, and is borne of scientific and clinical study.

Though first introduced during medical school, advanced study of Cranial Osteopathy is an on-going process that takes many years. It is extremely gentle, yet very powerful and effective. Cranial Osteopathy recognizes that movement and rhythms exist throughout the body including the head and face. It has been described as having a spiritual and energetic base as well as anatomic correlations. Joints in the skull and face enable body motions, as well as accommodations for trauma and disease patterns. Physics shows us that anything broken down into its simplest parts is energy, so osteopaths consider not only the existence and movement of the body's particles, but also the spaces in between.

With modern surgical and anatomical observation, as well as high-tech diagnostic equipment, many in the scientific arena agree that motions and rhythms exist in the head and face, and are central to the body's functions and health. One perspective is that Cranial Osteopathy helps integrate the mind, body, and spirit by positively and gently manipulating the head and its contents along with the rest of the body.

7. What conditions can osteopathy and Osteopathic Manipulation help?

Osteopathic methods are very gentle and can be applied to individuals of all ages, with many conditions. For more details, see How We Can Help You. (link to section in Our Services)

8. What happens during treatment?

Most patients are "treated" while lying down although we modify the treatment to suit your needs and capabilities. There are many different osteopathic techniques or modalities that may be used. Some resemble massage and stretching, while others require patient participation. Some techniques are very light in touch where others are more forceful. All techniques are specific to the patient and the condition. During the treatment, some patients feel a deep sense of relaxation, warmth, cold, or a tingling or itching sensation. Others report no sensation at all. For more information, see What Happens During a Visit (link to What Happens During a Visit on Our Services page).

9. Are there any side effects after treatment?

Side effects of the treatment may involve deep relaxation, a feeling of whole-being balance, alleviation or improvement of symptoms, a surge of energy, and shorter recovery times.

10. How long does it take to get better?

Osteopathic treatment helps the body function optimally to attain health. In many cases, the disease or problem did not occur overnight and likewise health after stress and disease can take time. Many factors are involved with healing, including the nature of the problem, the practitioner's skill, and each individual's situation. Some problems can be helped within a few treatments, others require a much longer period of time.

Source: Some information above is paraphrased from the American Osteopathic Association (www.aoa.org ).