The innumerables benefits of Osteopathy

After defining Osteopathy as the art of knowing how to diagnose and treat a certain pathology of the human body, starting from its muscular and skeletal structure, a reader could probably fall into error, arriving at the inexact conclusion that the Osteopath is a manipulator only able to dissolve muscular tension and stiffness along the vertebral column. Of course we are also this, but for a much greater goal: to dissolve a contracture, for us it means to avoid the strangulation of the nerve by the muscle fiber and eliminate the resistance that it affixes to the vertebral segments, to be able to manipulate them; manipulating a vertebra, or a group of these, for us is not to return to the patient a noise that is convincing, but allow the spinal nerve, corresponding to that level and with a precise, surgical and millimetric nerve irradiation, not to suffer compressions in no point of its fiber; likewise, this discourse extends to the entire vascular system, to favor the correct blood flow to the organs and, nevertheless, its return to the heart.

It is therefore equally inaccurate, and serious, to reproach to an Osteopath, ignorance of human anatomy and medicine in general. Since a serious professional of this sector, in order to apply the techniques, he is forced to know perfectly the Somatic and Autonomous Nervous System, the branch of each root, its path, the structures that embraces, those with which it intertwines, the others, among which gets space, the multiple directions it takes and the last destinations, be themselves muscular bundles in whole or only portions of organs, to which it sends a precise information. He is forced to know the Cardiocirculatory System excellently, the stroke of each arterial branch, the precise space it occupies in the human body and the areas to which it supplies oxygen, where, therefore, the vein supports it, and how this cooperates in cleaning and “recharge” this perfect machine. He is forced to know of every organ, muscle and viscera, the structure, functions, mechanisms of vitality, the enzymatic and chemical elements that regulate them, the innumerable pathologies that can affect them and the respective symptomatic manifestations. He is forced to know a human skull, perfectly, so that he can manage to know in how many holes, protuberances, depressions, curves and cavities, pass capillaries, fluids, nerves and muscles ; how the joints open and close, the geometric axis through which they dance, depending on the whole and intricate structure, made of bones, ligaments, tendons, muscles, skin and much more, which is the complex of the human body, which everything does, unless moving by sectors. The work of an Osteopath starts from years of studies of anatomical atlases, books and practices. Years in which we are asked to be competent and ready to know the map of the case that arises, and to find a remedy, for one way or another.

All this path leads to different applicability of the Osteopathic art, leaving to the professinal the choice of using them all together, either one or the other, depending on the situation that presents itself.

We therefore speak of Structural Osteopathy, Visceral Osteopathy and Cranial Osteopathy.

The first is the basis of the others. Without exact anatomical knowledge concerning the mechanical and motor area of ​​the human body, it is approximate and pretentious to try to devote oneself to the ones that follow. It is that part of Osteopathy that you perceive when the practitioner causes you a liberating sound noise, or when he embraces you and asks if you feel a certain painful pressure, and in a short time seems to have taken it away, after months, weeks or days that insistently accompanied you .

The second, is the second step: once you know the motility of an organism, you can examine the mobility of the mild, viscous, visceral areas that are enclosed in the “containing box”, and make sure that there are no tablets, crushed, or affections in its funcionality. It is that part of osteopathy that you perceive when the practitioner asks you to breathe deeply, and with your progressive relaxation, manages to go so far in depth that the organs seem to leave space to his hands.

The third is the queen of osteopathy. The mother of the two previous ones. The skull is the bone structure that provides protection to the mechanism that regulates the limits of a human being: the brain. Through cranial manipulation, it is possible to remove broad spectrum disorders: humoral, endocrine, structural, mechanical, neurological, ocular, auditory, masticatory, cervical, nasal, and much more. It is that part of osteopathy that you DO NOT perceive, the one in which the hands of the practitioner support your head, and you are tempted to let it go, and almost sleep.

Each of these techniques, used singly or together, if well done, changes the life of a person. Report wellness, in the long term. Each of these techniques is suitable for everyone: from the newborn to the elderly. Each of these techniques has its own reason to exist. So do not fall into the error of false information: Osteopathy has a thousand forms to achieve its goal, but never, under any circumstances, lies about its effectiveness and honesty.

OSTEOPATHY AS PREVENTION

After having clarified the concept of Osteopathy, its origins and what is, I think it appropriate to deal with the theme of “when and who it is useful for a session of Osteopathy”.

Given the scant information in the field of health care, with which the professionals in this sector must be even today collide, unfortunately there is a great deal of confusion about the figure of the osteopath, not only as a professional but especially on when to ask his help, why and for whom. For this reasion, I’ll try to look more closely at each of these points:

  • WHEN AND WHY TO GO TO THE OSTEOPATH.

The osteopath is not a magician. The osteopath is, as explained in the last article , a figure that has dedicated years of studies to try to rid the body of any sub-dislocations that generate points of blocks to the flow neuro-vascular. The success of this intent lies not only in the skills of professional, but especially from the antiquity of the lesion. By as much time as the latter is present and is supported by the patient, the more it defines “chronic“, and, as such, already subject to a state of their own adaptability of the mechanism of the human body which, once installed, it becomes almost impossible to solve completely. This does not mean that if you suffer from time of backache, a sitting of osteopathy is completely useless or contraindicated: Osteopathy helps, always. And always, if well executed, without any unintended side effect. It means rather that certainly not just a single sitting, and that inverting a process now chronic will be impossible, therefore we’ll be able to  but to obtain a progressive improvement, even without couldn’t totally overcome our malaise, .

Another argument should be done if the painful symptom is treated at the exact moment in which it presents. If, then, the person decides to request an  osteopathic consultance for time, before they are put into effect the above mechanisms of adaptation and chronicity,  it will be much easier for the professional, to act and try to return the correct mobility to the patient, probably in a resolutive form.

The certainty of complete healing, once it has a disorder, does not exist. In any medical field, including surgical. This is why giving guarantees to a patient is simply impossible. Each case is itself and the path toward the recovery of wellness dynamic lives exclusive personal and of each individual. When, therefore, we can consider the best time to contact an osteopath? The answer is: in a preventive way. From the moment that the postural imbalances arise silently, without showing any symptom (at least in the short term), work on them when the person still does not complain no pain is absolutely the most opportune moment. It is in fact possible to identify them and free them, even before they become more critical and allow the onset of further problems. This results in an ever less likely to suffer from ills.

The great success of the osteopathic technique, lies precisely in its use as prevention. With an ordinary control, it is possible to maintain a correct posture, a freedom motion and functional and ensure a general welfare to the person.

  • TO WHOM IS DEDICATED OSTEOPATHY.

Having regard to the form in which it is practiced, its scarce contraindications and its effectiveness in preventive phase and maintenance, osteopathy is a discipline manipolativa suitable for anyone.

For the youngest, ensures a regular postural control of growth, by checking the alignment of the spine and pelvis and distinguishing between what can be a real problem congenital of phase of ossification and that which is commonly called in the jargon doctor “false short leg“, caused by a scoliosis or by a rotation of the pelvic axis, improving, included, the rest of the foot. It is thus possible to avoid an arch support or, conversely, confirm where strictly necessary, but prevent the imbalances that it generates in its long use.

Through the postural control osteopathic, it is possible to note a net improvement at visceral, through any corrections of the ribcage, removing compressions or twists to be part of the same, which may affect pulmonary disorders gastrointestinal or.

Osteopathy is suited to adults, both who practices sports both who doesn’t, to monitor the postural imbalances generated by incorrect postures maintained for a long time, such as for example: who spent many hours driving, who sit in front of a computer, who tends to stay many hours standing, who sleeps in a wrong position, who brings eyeglasses and clutters the cervical section during a reading, who wears the plantar for years, who does the work of great effort, who simply never has time to devote to himself and entered into a chronic condition of sedentary life, people who practice sport at a competitive level, those who practice it ordinarily at amateur level. In a word: to everyone.

There is not a generic cure for every illness. There is only one therapy designed and adapted to the person and to ensure the success of the latter, is a teamwork: not only the professional but especially of the patient.

Prevention is better than cure.

Maiora perdet, qui parva non servaverit ”                                                                                                                                                                                (Who does not know how to treat the small things, also loses those big).

What Osteopathy is about.

A question with which to I often compare, especially in Italy, is the phrase “But what does exactly an osteopath is?”. This uncertainty is also the first reactive effect by various listeners, when I talk about my profession.
“Osteopathy”. A confused concept. A concept that fails to distinguish between the many professions, back in vogue especially in recent years.
With this first article, I will try to give you not only welcome on my website, but clearify especially the differences between the figures of professionals, both on the health sector both on the parasanitario one, in order to ensure full conceptual clarity on “who” is “what” and “how” it does.

1. WHAT IS OSTEOPATHY?
The term “Osteopathy” derives from the Greek, from the union of the terms ὀστέον (ostéon= “bone”) and πάθος (páthos=”suffering”). Translated literally, therefore, means “technique that takes care of the bones’ pain”. But to define this technique, this translation is limiting and misleading because, in reality, this technique takes care of much more.
Its founder, Andrew Taylor Still, an american surgeon who lived between 1828 and 1917, discovered this technique as a result of a long research aimed at finding an alternative remedy is to those known by him and tested, both in terms of pharmacological both in terms of surgery, practiced especially on the battlefield during his period as military doctor in the war of secession. This research was not motivated only by the mere desire to give a turn to medical science and its foundations, but especially by a tragic fact that forced him to get in his knee by facing illness, despite all the knowledge that he possessed: the loss of three of his sons, due to a cerebrospinal meningitis.
There, so, everything began. He theorized that the human body was a perfect machine since its deep anatomical root, the skeletal structure, and with full capacity of cure itself, where this same one ceded adequate space to vascular structures and nerves, responsible for the correct operation of each mechanism. It was, then, the practical demonstration of the above mentioned theory, through the successful healing of a child affected by a strong dysentery, to conclamare the reason of his statements and to define the success. The latter, in fact, was the event that laid the foundations for the birth of the first osteopathic schools and the fight to the official recognition of the same.
Then, what is Osteopathy? Osteopathy is that technique, which allows, through only the help of the hands of professional, the freeing of the skeletal structure, responsible for the support of all the elements which allow the correct operation, i.e. muscles, other structures in general, blood vessels and nerves.

2. “OSTEOPATHY” – BONES- THEN ONLY DIRECT AND NOISY MANIPULATIONS?
Absolutely no.
The noisy manipulations, those defined with the term “crack”, but technically known as “thrust”, are part of the myriad of techniques that a professionist can use to “free” the structure from one of its possible limitation, but are not the only ones.
The skeleton is kept in axis by the ligaments, and coordinated in motion by the action of the muscles. Therefore, often the osteopaths prefer to move through these two structures, through the so-called “indirect” techniques, to return the rigid structure to its physiologic harmony.

3. THE OSTEOPATH IS A CHIROPRACTOR?
Also in this case, the answer is no.
Chiropractic is a technique founded by Canadian Doctor Daniel David Palmer, lived between 1845 and 1913.
Basically, both as A.T. STILL, as D.D. Palmer, had the same intuition: eliminate the structural limitations. But while the first believed in the importance that this limitation did not involve the free flow of the blood in the blood vessels, in order to ensure an efficient supply of oxygen to the rest of the body, the second was searching simply that this block should not impinge on any nervous structure, causing an alteration of the electric pulse so much sensory (aches and paraesthesia), as motoric (hypotonia, atrophy, areflexia, iporeflessia and paresis).
Here is why the common goal contributes to the mixing of the two figures. But the techniques used by an osteopath, are not the same as those used by a chiropractor. Because although it appears tiny the difference of intent that exists between the two disciplines, it becomes a fundamental element of the way of proceeding of a professional: an osteopath can start from the cranial structure, to correct a banal ache of the shoulder, and, if not sufficient, proceed to examine organs such as the heart, stomach, pancreas and liver, until getting to evaluate the support at the level of the ankle, to make sure that all the body works in perfect harmony; a chiropractor, confines itself to liberate the nerve branches that affect the limb in question.

4. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN OSTEOPATH, MASSAGER AND PHYSIOTERAPIST.
The osteopath uses only the help of hands to perform its therapy, but this does not make him a simple massager.
The osteopathic technique is a technique based on the biophysical laws of human anatomy. Every movement, each manipulation, both direct (Thrust), both indirect, these are meant to move in depth the key milestones which give stability, strength and agility to the whole organism, and to allow every single component or viscera to operate correctly, through a correct irrigation on the part of the blood vessels. It all cannot and must not be confused with a relaxing massage, energizing or decontracting one, which instead is interested in simply exerting an action on the muscle fibers, without taking account of everything that these rule or that passes through them.
In the same way, the osteopath must not be confused with the physiotherapist, which deals with the rehabilitation of all those structures which have suffered an injury, that with the simple manipulation is not possible to correct (serious injury ligamentous, severe inflammation at the level of the nerve fibers, serious lesions at the level of the muscle tissue, serious lesions at the level of the spine’s structures, etc.), and for which therefore becomes necessary the aid of suitable machinery (tecarterapy, electrical stimulation Transcutaneous Nerve – T.E.N.S., ultrasound, hydrotherapy, etc.).

5. OSTEOPATHY IS A MEDICAL SCIENCE?
Although osteopathy originate from studies, surveys and centuries of medical practices, the latter, even today, in some areas of the world, does not fall between the health sciences, and therefore is not recognized as medical science. As, on the contrary, for example, the figure of a physiotherapist.
Italy, is part of this case.
Other countries recognize its full effectiveness, especially as preventive therapy and healing in the above cases, therefore entitled to an official recognition that falls in a branch “para-health care”, which means “flanking” health techniques, together with techniques such as acupuncture, naturopathy, homeopathy, Reiki, etc. An example of such countries are Spain, France and Germany.
Other still fully recognize Osteopathy as medical technique, without any exception of genre. Among these last, are included United States, Australia and New Zealand.
This difference implies a difference in terms of years of study, of recognition of schools through various institutions and opens new issues on the plane of recognition of qualifications at European level.
The associations are strugglimg to ensure that these bureaucratic dynamics soon will be clarified, both for the benefit of all the professionals of the sector both, in primis, for patients.

One thing is certain: be osteopaths, means that you have chosen to embrace a mission. The mission to return the welfare, to those who fear to have lost it.
If you are not clear in this, there is no year of study, nor diploma nor graduation, that makes of a professional, a true osteopath.

Collaborations:

Sgura: The professional, as external consultant autonomous, resident in Spain, when present in Italy, both in Modena, both in Ostuni, operates at the study of the Surgeon Cardiologist Fabio Sgura Alfredo.

Osvaldo: Father of professional Chiara Ghinatti , and pioneer of the neurotrofical French techniques in the years ’80 and ’90, for the treatment of disorders caused by the presence of slipped discs, and eating disorders and imbalances of wellbeing, this professional  integrates with mere advice the re-balancing process of the subject.

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