Welcome to Osteopathic Canada
  Home | Help

  Site Index:
  History
  Philosophy
  PRM
  Technique
  Science
  Education
  Research
  Links
  References
  

Osteopathic History:


GENERAL HISTORY

DR.ANDREW TAYLOR STILL

THE FUTURE OF OSTEOPATHY




General History
Throughout history in the times of the Greeks there has always been two distinct and seperate schools of thought regarding medicine. The first school started by Hippocrates emphasized that an individual was unique in itself and should be studied to maintain good health and well-being. The other school of thought was originally from the town of Knidos where the people was emphasized that you should look for disease as an invader of the body and that intervention sought to destroy.

Today's western medicine acknowledges it's origins in the Hippocratic school of thought,however, today it follows the Knidian approach in attacking systoms once disease is present. Over time there has been individuals that have reaffirmed the Hippocratic approach. In the seventeenth century, Dr.T.Sydenham, the founder of clinical of modern clinical methods showed his students that only by being at the bedside could you learn about the disease.

Dr.Andrew T. Still as the founder of Osteopathy has re-affirmed the Hippocratic approach to medicine. He believed that the body should be treated as a whole and that structure effects function. Dr. Still strongly believed that it was necessary in treatment to discover the mechanical imbalance that lies behind the disease process and not just the symtoms.

Top | Home | Help

Dr.Andrew Taylor Still
The founder of Osteopathy was born in 1828. He was raised in and around Macon County in Missouri where his father was preacher/country doctor. From his father he received medical training. Then Andrew Still proceeded to go to Medical School. He graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Kansas.

Dr. Still developed his theory and healing methods at a particularly dark moment in the medical history of the U.S. His experience as an army doctor during the civil war in 1861 lead him to become very concerned over the way that soldiers were treated for their wounds.

He also lost his wife and three of his children during a spinal meningitis epidemic. This trauma for him lead him to seek reasons for why people became sick. Rather than looking at the disease itself, he began paying attention to the entire body as a whole and what good health consisted of instead. This new system of medicine was called Osteopathy.

Top | Home | Help

The Future of Osteopathy
Dr. Still has founded Osteopathy, the profession since then has become a world-wide discipline. Osteopathy has received statutory recognition, and is part of the health care system in most english speaking country and many others aswell.

In the 1990's it is becoming evident that healthcare is beginning to take a more global approach to health. People seeking alternative treatment in addition to the traditional western medicine. Increased research and communication between the many therapies in medicine is making this possible. Research validation alternative therapies is happening all over. In Canada in British Columbia there has been an entire wing added to a university hospital and it is dedicated to research of alternative therapies. (I will try to provide a link)

Top | Home | Help


© 1998 Osteopathy Canada
Comments? Questions? Contact Webmaster.