Celebrating 150 Years of Osteopathy

June 2024 marked 150 years since Dr. Andrew Taylor Still first ‘discovered’ Osteopathy. Since then, every Osteopath learns Dr. Still’s philosophy early in their coursework, but few have likely reflected on the worldwide movement he pioneered a century and a half ago, and how the practice of Osteopathy developed in different ways across the globe.

Dr. Still believed optimum health was achieved by considering the whole person - mind, body, and spirit. This approach to patient care focuses on the body as an integrated whole, rather than treating specific symptoms or illnesses.

Dr. Still opened the first school of Osteopathy in Kirksville, Missouri in 1892. He believed disease was the partial or complete failure of nerves to properly conduct the fluids of life, and therefore his curriculum focused on the treatment of general disease by the manual manipulation of bones. This introduction of a manual approach to the treatment of medical cases transformed the practice of medicine, and his first school of Osteopathy organized his manual approach to medicine into a teachable system. The British School of Osteopathy was later opened in 1917 by John Martin Littlejohn, a student of Dr. Still’s, becoming the model for the development of Osteopathy in Europe.

Dr. Still’s philosophy was not universally embraced and was considered a “cult” within many medical circles up to the 1950’s. Osteopathic Medicine was finally recognized as a medical practice in all 50 U.S. states in 1973 and received statutory self-regulation in the United Kingdom in 1993. Osteopathy is now recognized as an evidence-based profession with increasing amounts of high-quality research supporting it.

Whereas Osteopathy in the U.S. gradually shifted toward the practice of medicine and surgery, Osteopathy in Europe and the Commonwealth countries did not move in this direction. Thus, two distinct avenues of the profession evolved: Osteopathic Medicine practised by Osteopathic Physicians; and Osteopathy, practised by Osteopaths. Osteopathy is now practised by more than 50,000 Osteopaths worldwide, with statutory regulation in 12 European countries as well as Australia and New Zealand in addition to nearly 150,000 Osteopathic Physicians practising in the United States.

Osteopathic Medicine has been present in Canada for over 125 years. It was first introduced in 1898 with the arrival of Dr. H. L. Spangler, an American-trained osteopathic medical graduate, in St. Johns, New Brunswick.  Since then, most American-trained graduates moved to Ontario, forming the Ontario Osteopathic Association in 1901.  The Western Canadian Osteopathic Association was founded in 1923, and the Canadian Osteopathic Association was chartered in 1926.

By 1925, there were an estimated 200 American-trained Osteopathic Physicians working in Canada. Currently, the Canadian Osteopathic Association is aware of 40+ Osteopathic Physicians registered across Canada, including physicians certified in the specialties of family medicine, anesthesiology, psychiatry, neurology, pediatrics, physical medicine, and those engaged in sport and osteopathic musculoskeletal medicine.

In the early 1980’s French Osteopath, Philippe Druelle, brought manual osteopathic teachings to Québec, founding the Collège d’Études Ostéopathiques in Montréal. This school now has campuses in five Canadian provinces and offers both full and part-time programs. By the 1990’s, many practitioners trained in Europe and Commonwealth countries began to set up osteopathic practices in Canada alongside the graduates of the Canadian school. The Canadian Federation of Osteopaths (CFO) was formed in 2003 as a national organization to represent Osteopathy and for the exchange of ideas and information amongst provincial associations. Most provinces now have associations to represent their members. Presently, there are more than 2,000 Osteopaths practicing in Canada.

In B.C., the Society for the Promotion of Manual Practice Osteopathy (SPMPO) was formed and registered in 2005 to represent non-physician Osteopaths. The five founding members were Gail Abernethy, Caroline Abrams, Howard Dieno, Marc Jones, and Cal Steel, and all but Marc Jones still practise Osteopathy in B.C. More than 160 qualified Osteopathic Practitioners are members of the Society, which now operates as OsteopathyBC, all of whom meet the educational qualifications of the World Health Organization 2010 Benchmarks for Training in Osteopathy. OsteopathyBC was a major contributor to the adoption of the CEN (European) Standards for Osteopathic Healthcare, which are now registered with the Standards Council of Canada as Canadian Standards.

A significant achievement was won by SPMPO in 2022 to trademark OsteopathyBC, despite continued opposition by the Osteopathic Physicians. Efforts will continue to try to secure the right to use the term Osteopath in B.C. as an occupational title if the reserved title cannot be restored under the new Health and Professions Occupations Act.

Osteopathy is not yet a regulated profession in any Canadian province, although Québec is very close and several other provinces are steadily working towards regulation. Both the lack of regulation and the increasing popularity of Osteopathy means new schools of dubious quality are turning out poorly qualified practitioners at a fast rate, and online courses are proliferating. OBC believes that a lack of regulation and no common education or practice standards leads to the risk of debasement of the profession and the possibility of B.C. becoming a destination for poorly qualified practitioners as other countries and provinces become regulated. Ultimately, regulation is seen as the only way to protect the public from poorly trained or unethical practitioners and to legally preserve practice standards. Therefore, OBC is working towards the eventual regulation of Osteopathy at a standard consistent with other regulated jurisdictions.