Where did Osteopathy Come from?
Osteopathy originated in the United States during the late 1800's after a Physician called Andrew Taylor Still began experimenting with treating the individual rather than the symptoms. At the time there was a meningitis outbreak and Still became discouraged with the lack of successful medical treatment so started to devise his own. He had huge success with his then alternative treatments and began to teach them, today Osteopathy is still taught at the Kirksville College of Osteopathy started by Still. Since Andrew Taylor Still there have been many great minds who contributed their life's work to Osteopathy including William Garner Sutherland who started using and teaching cranial Osteopathy.
What is the difference between Osteopathy in the United States and the rest of the world?
From the States Osteopathy spread to Europe, Australia and New Zealand where Osteopaths are well incorporated into the health care system. In these parts of the world Osteopaths work as primary care practitioners in private practice but are not medical practitioners.
In the United States Osteopaths train as medical physicians first and are able to prescribe medications and some also perform surgery. However many never practice as manual Osteopaths.
So What about Canada?
**As of November 2008 manual practice Osteopaths in B.C will be called Osteopathic Practitioners.**
An Osteopathic School started in Canada in Quebec in 1981 and graduates have been practicing manual Osteopathy ever since. However Osteopathy has not been as well incorporated into the health system, especially in BC, as in other countries and the degree has not been recognized by the universities board. There are a team of dedicated practitioners that are keen to change that and Osteopathy is becoming more and more popular as people realize how effective it can be. The population of Osteopaths is also growing considerably as practitioners from the UK, Australia and New Zealand find out how fabulous BC is! There is also now a school in Vancouver so we can expect some more local talent to emerge.
