Andrew Taylor Still, an American doctor, was the founder of this discipline. Being disappointed by traditional medicine, he decided to start a new treatment system in 1874.

The innovation of this methodology consists of some key principles that are still used in osteopathy:

Unity of the Body: the individual is seen as a whole, a system composed of muscles, skeletal structures, and internal organs that find their connection in the central nervous system in the spine. Each part makes up the person (psyche included) and is dependent on the other parts and, the correct functioning of each ensures that of the entire structure, that is to say, its well-being.

Relationship between structure and function: Dr. Still concluded that osteopathy could be summarised in a single sentence “structure governs function”. The perfection of the structure is important, if this balance is altered we are faced with an osteopathic dysfunction, characterised by a body part where correct mobility has been lost. The organism will react to this imbalance by creating areas of compensation and body adaptations that are not favorable to the general well-being of the organism.

Self-healing: in osteopathy the therapist does not do the healing him/herself, but helps eliminate the “obstacles” to the body’s communication pathways in order to allow the organism, taking advantage of the phenomena to self-heal, in order to reach the healing process. Osteopathy aims to restore the harmony of the skeletal support structure in order to allow the body to find its own balance and well-being.

Osteopathy is a manual physical therapy, complementary to classical medicine. This natural and gentle method treats various diseases without drugs, using a causative approach rather that a symptomatic one. In fact, osteopathy studies the individual as a whole and is not satisfied with simply resolving the symptom, but goes in search of the cause of any pain that can lodge itself in another part of the body nowhere near the painful area.

Thanks to the principles on which it is based, osteopathy can be used on people of all ages, from newborns and the elderly, to pregnant women. Osteopathy has proven effective for many disorders that often afflict the individual by preventing him from leading a peaceful life.

These disorders include cervical pain, lumbago, osteoarthritis, discopathy, headaches, joint and muscle pain due to trauma, balance alterations, neuralgia, insomnia, chronic fatigue, congestive diseases such as otitis and sinusitis, gynaecological and digestive disorders, all of which can be cured through corrective medical exercise therapy aimed at full rehabilitation.