Why Osteopathy
Osteopaths are trained to release the stress and tension in the system.
At 360 Osteopathy, we believe in crafting a holistic experience that nurtures your mind, body, and spirit.
2025 © seattleosteopath.com. All Rights Reserved.
WHAT IS OSTEOPATHY?
Osteopathy is a philosophy of putting the patient first.
To put the patient first the doctor must first listen to the patient to understand how they need help. In osteopathy we are trained to listen with our head, and understand the patient’s injury or illness and address the problem with knowledge. Then we must listen with our hands during the exam to understand how the pain is felt in the body.
And we must listen to the patient’s story so we know how their condition is affecting their life, creating stress and preventing them from engaging in the activities they enjoy.
Then we develop a plan to help our patient, re-engage with the world to help them be the person they want to be.
TRAUMA
Osteopathy recognizes the profound influence of trauma on the normal functioning of a living organism. Trauma disorganizes life processes. Trauma can be physical or emotional. It can be a deliberate life saving event such as surgery, intended for good, but an insult to the normal structural integrity none-the-less. Trauma may result from a profound disease process, such as the laying down of scar tissue in the lungs following a severe pneumonia. Trauma may be an obvious single large event, such as a car accident, or it may be as subtle as repetitive action, gravity, and time.
We do not simply one day have a disease. Life affects us. For every effect there is a cause. Cause is typically not a singular event. Genetics, nutrition, physicial trauma, toxic exposures, emotional influences all converge to create the present moment. Osteopathy does not cure genetic disease or malnutrition (obviously). Osteopathy, however, can assist our physiology, helping to establish the most optimal means of negotiating the complexities of these influences. Osteopathy seeks to discover “cause,” and treat at the level of “cause.”
DIAGNOSIS
Before treatment can begin, we must first learn the way in which trauma has imprinted itself upon the patient. This diagnostic process is essential. Obviously, we cannot treat without knowing what we are treating! We learn through touch. Dr. Sutherland spoke of “thinking, feeling, seeing, knowing fingers.”
The nature of an osteopathic diagnosis differs from what we usually think of when a physician provides a label for a disease process. Using the information we receive through our hands, we pay attention to the balance of tensions throughout the body. We determine the functional integrity of the anatomy. How well do the tissues move? Are the organs, membranes, muscles and bones receiving appropriate blood flow, and venous drainage? What is the quality of the blood, lymph, and cerebral spinal fluid?
One of the peculiar aspects of Osteopathy is that it is often difficult to separate diagnosis from treatment. Diagnosis and treatment, in a sense, blend together. Throughout the treatment process we learn about the patient. Throughout the diagnostic process the patient is being treated. Feedback is constant.
TREATMENT
After a thorough history is taken and any pertinent physical examination is provided, the patient will then lie down on the table, face up.
The transformative process occurs through active listening. At each visit, the whole person is treated. To treat only the area of complaint, misses the point. To be effective it is necessary to find where the “problem” really lies. The symptoms may be in one location, but the “cause” often lies in another. It is for this reason that osteopathy is considered “holistic.”
The principles upon which treatment is based are constant. The intention to restore fluid continuity, balance, and freedom is universal. Each Osteopath, however, is unique in the quality of their hand contact and their style of treatment. Treatment styles may be as varied as a signature.