Eat With the Season
Why local, seasonal produce still makes the most sense, and which fruits and vegetables are most worth prioritizing Feature Article | Nutrition & Seasonal Living Modern food culture offers nearly everything all year, but availability is not the same as quality. Fruits and vegetables have a season, a climate, and a point at which they […]
The Great Debate: Should an Osteopathy Clinician Prescribe Exercises?
One of the longest-running debates in osteopathy is surprisingly simple: Should our job end when the treatment ends? For many classical osteopaths, the answer is yes. Their philosophy is rooted in a powerful principle: the body has the ability to self-regulate and heal when restrictions are removed. If we restore motion, balance tension, and allow […]
The Brain Tool Kit: A Digital Extension of Osteopathic Assessment in Concussion Care
As osteopathy clinicians, we’re trained to see the body as a unit. We understand that structure and function are interrelated, and we know the nervous system is the primary regulator of health and adaptation. But when it comes to concussion, we have to admit something honestly: Most osteopathy programs do not teach us how to […]
Time for Critical Reflexivity in Visceral Osteopathy
A profession at a crossroads between tradition and evidence The MDPI article Clinical Reasoning and Practices in the Osteopathic Management of Visceral Disorders: A Grounded Theory Study in the Italian Context offers a much-needed mirror to our profession. By qualitatively exploring how experienced Italian osteopaths conceptualize and manage visceral disorders, the authors expose a tension […]
Canine Osteopathy: What a Dog Tells me Before I Ever Touch Them
The Dog as an Integrated System Dogs do not separate structure from function. Joint motion, breathing patterns, neurological tone, and emotional state are inseparable. Treatment decisions should reflect this integration rather than isolate a single tissue or symptom. Canine osteopathy applies osteopathic principles to the assessment of movement dysfunction in dogs. It prioritizes joint motion, […]
Palpating Asymmetry in the Lumbopelvic Region: What Does the Evidence Really Tell Us?
The reliability of palpation—particularly when assessing asymmetry in the pelvis and lumbar spine—has long been a cornerstone of osteopathic practice. A recent review by Stovall and Kumar, published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, critically examined whether clinicians can consistently identify bony landmark asymmetries in the lumbopelvic region. Their findings raise important questions […]
Rethinking Osteopathy’s Roots: A Critical Look at Anatomical Possibilism in Canadian Practice
Introduction In a recent article published in the International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine (2024), Hidalgo, MacMillan, and Thomson take aim at a foundational belief in osteopathy: the idea that “everything is connected, so everything matters.” They call this mindset anatomical possibilism (AP), the tendency to construct elaborate clinical explanations from tenuous anatomical connections. While these […]
The Osteopath’s Hidden Edge: Learning the ABCs of Nutrients
As new graduates stepping into practice, you have mastered the techniques of manual osteopathy. You understand the biomechanics, the subtle rhythms of the body, and the principles of non-invasive correction. Yet what will distinguish you from the average manual osteopath is not only your hands-on skill, but also your knowledge of what nourishes the very […]
Beyond the Treatment Table: The 5 Vital Signs of a Thriving Osteopathy Practice
From Healer to Clinic CEO As osteopaths, we’re trained to be expert diagnosticians. We palpate for tissue changes, assess complex biomechanics, and listen deeply to our patients’ stories. We spend years mastering the art of touch and the science of the human body. But what about the health of our practice? Most of us became […]
The Manual Osteopath’s Botanical Cabinet: Topical Applications for Structural Dysfunction
Manual osteopaths practice a discipline born of palpation, precision, and reverence for the body’s innate ability to heal. We decompress, balance, and reposition, not to impose change, but to make space for it. Yet even the most elegant correction can falter if the internal environment is not primed to support it. Tissue chemistry must cooperate. […]
