Osteopathy is an independent, separate field of medicine which aims to stimulate a person’s general abilities to self-regulate and self-heal.
An osteopath uses their hands both for clinical examination and treatment.
Osteopathy assumes that relations between body’s systems are so big that they shouldn’t be approached separately, and treatment should include all of them at once.
Osteopathy has three main pillars:
- Structural (treatment of bones, muscles, ligaments)
- Viceral (digestive tract, liver, pancreas, bladder)
- Cranial (skull bones and their junctions).
In many countries the osteopath is a primary contact specialist – that means they are obligated to an interdisciplinary approach with other branches of medicine. They have an obligation to provide best medical care for the patient.