03 Mar DR A.T Still, The Founder of Osteopathy
12 December 2021 marked the 140th anniversary of death of Dr Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of osteopathy. It is only fitting that we take the opportunity to reflect on the man that created our field of work. As well as acknowledge his contribution to advancing our knowledge about the human anatomy and providing us with the means to help relieve our patients suffering and providing us with the means to assist them with leading healthier lives.
Dr Still was born in 1828 in Virginia, USA and spent most of his formative years in Kansas. During the American Civil War he fought against slavery. Still spent many years practising the standard medicine of his time, but over the years started to prescribe less and less medications to patients given its poor results.
After 3 of his children died due to meningitis he became intrigued by the idea that the human body was designed to heal itself and believed that there had to be a better way to heal the sick without putting “toxic substances” into the body.
He believed that the human body was designed to heal itself, and this was quite an innovative and revolutionary thought for this time. Dr Still reckon that restoring the body’s normal movement was crucial to supporting its immune system. In 1874 after 20 years of scientific research and investigation, he developed and proposed the system of healing known as osteopathy.
By challenging the established medical practise of his time, Dr Still was ostracised for more than a decade by his medical colleagues, patients, family, and friends, but eventually won them over with his overwhelming results, which were simply too compelling to ignore. In 1892 Dr Still founder the American School of Osteopathy in Missouri. Over time Osteopathy became a parallel system of healing to traditional medicine in the USA.
Osteopathy is about working with the body and its natural processes. It recognises that the body is a self-regulating and self-healing system. By identifying and correcting areas of restricted mobility, osteopaths are able to improve the balance of these affected structures, which allows the body to improve its overall function.
Dr Still’s holistic approach in searching for the cause of a condition and not just addressing its symptoms, is the hallmark of osteopathy. Osteopathy appreciates and understands the minute details of the human anatomy and physiology, so that we as practitioners can truly comprehend diseases and the overall health and wellbeing of a person.
It is thanks to Dr Still’ years of dedication to developing a unique form of healthcare, that many of us in the healthcare industry have been able to pursue a career in osteopathy, giving us the pleasure to help and assist as many people as possible.
At OsteoVision, our osteopaths are trained to treat a wide range of musculoskeletal conditions. Please contact us if you would like to discuss your symptoms, would like to book an appointment, or require any medical related information .
Call: 03303 904 300
Email: info@osteovision.life
You can also book an appointment online at www.osteovision.life