What is osteopathic medicine?
Preface

The political-sanitary situation of osteopathy in Europe is evolving in the time being and thanks to the work done in the last eight years by L.U.de.S. University of Human and Technological Sciences, it has been taken into serious consideration by some European Governmental authorities, with a subsequent political-sanitary acknowledgement.

In the United States of America and in Great Britain, osteopathy is defined and taught at Universities starting from its clinical implementation and it is combined with official medicine.

In the last ten years osteopathic medicine has spread and evolved compared to 1910 when the last work by the father of osteopathy Andrew Taylor Still had been published.
Unlike cinesitherapy or physiatrics, that are mainly focused on rehabilitation in presence of organic damages, osteopathy deals with the areas where bone or joint dysfunctions respond to physiology, biomechanics and medical physics tests. These tests are useful for the osteopath to decide what treatment to carry out in order to solve painful situations or, in the absence of pain, posture or functional alterations.
The health worker, a physician, a physiotherapist or a nurse, correctly learning the application of osteopathic manoeuvres, can achieve excellent results in case of emergency, not only as far as the over mentioned dysfunctions are concerned, but also for manual visceral applications: gastralgia without organic damages, menstrual pains, functional disorders due to hiatal hernia, tachycardia caused by posture dysfunctions.
For the osteopathic treatment, an examination couch according to the most advanced standards will be needed in order to carry out the tests that the health worker, specialist in osteopathy, will need to determine the differential diagnosis and that, subsequently, will allow him or her to identify the specific treatment to be implemented.

Source: Zanussi -Il Metodo di Medicina Clinica, Endorsed by L.U.de.S
Ed. Mattioli 1885, publication date: Novembre 2007 Author: Paolo Sotgiu, page 1477