What is an example of how Traditional Osteopathy works?
(back to top) A patient comes in complaining of chronic neck pain and headaches. She has gone everywhere and tried everything with little success. Her primary care physician gave her a prescription for muscle relaxants and pain killers, her massage therapist tried deep-tissue work, and her chiropractor, finding the same vertebrae always out of alignment, successfully used weekly high-velocity adjustments. An Osteopathic physician, however, finds strains in connective tissues that run down the full length of the body. During a focused discussion on her medical history, the patient remembers falling off her bike while a pre-teen, when she severely twisted her ankle. For weeks, she took the pressure off that foot by walking off-balance. Her body adjusted imperceptibly by shifting the pelvis, which twisted the spine, which tilted the shoulders, which restricted circulation going to the head area. These compensations in the body took place over years, slowly hardening into semi-permanence.
