Osteopathy is always anatomy

“Osteopathy is anatomy, anatomy and anatomy”.
Despite a long time has elapsed since the beginnings of Osteopathy at the hands of Andrew Taylor Still in the late Nineteenth-Century America, this sentence still emphasizes a central and essential aspect of the practice of every osteopath.
As a matter of fact, over the years many discoveries have highlighted close bi-directional interactions between structure and function, highlighting the limitations coming from conferring an “absolute primacy” to anatomy or structure – an example is the perception of pain, for which, “anatomy”, that is the totality of the nociceptive pathways, is neither necessary nor sufficient.
However, it all starts with it.
It is the anatomy that allows the emergence of the physiology of the organism – without the presence of nociceptive pathways, the perception of pain as we know it would not develop.
The research in the field of anatomy allows a better understanding of the functioning of our organic systems and, consequently, the definition of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. The recent discovery of a highly articulated cerebral lymphatic system has completely transformed our understanding of the link between nervous and immune system; which, in turn, has given a huge boost to the study of the osteopathic techniques directed to the lymphatic system.
It is through the study of anatomy that osteopathy is able to refound and define a solid rationale of its practice – like for the studies on the fascia, on the receptor systems, on the links between superficial muscle layers and visceral or even meningeal structures, or the current studies on the innervation of cranial sutures.
It is thanks to their deep knowledge of anatomy that osteopaths know what is under their hands, how it should actually be and how to direct the right techniques with the right therapeutic focus.
Therefore, for an osteopath it is impossible to really take care of his patients if he does not take care of their anatomy.