Osteopathy is a hands-on form of treatment that focuses on the mobility of tissues throughout the body and the way different parts of the body are interconnected. An osteopath uses their hands to assess where movement may be restricted and how different areas of the body may influence one another. Treatment aims to support mobility and help the body function as well as possible.

Osteopathy was developed in the nineteenth century by the American physician Andrew Taylor Still. An important principle in his approach was that the body’s tissues need movement and that reduced mobility can affect how the body functions.

Would you like to learn more about osteopathy?
The website of the Dutch Association for Osteopathy provides more detailed information about osteopathy, treatment and how osteopaths work. 

For me, osteopathy is first and foremost a form of complementary care. It is not a replacement for conventional medicine, but something that can work alongside it. The knowledge and possibilities of modern medicine are indispensable when it comes to diagnosing and treating disease. I have experienced that personally as well. At the same time, I have also found that other forms of care can add something valuable by looking at health and function from a different perspective.

What appeals to me most about osteopathy is that the body is not approached as a collection of separate parts. Everything is continuously connected. A leg, for example, is not simply a bone surrounded by muscles. How it functions also depends on joints, muscles and connective tissue, as well as nerves, blood vessels, lymphatic flow and its connections with the rest of the body. When I treat someone, I therefore try not to focus on one area alone, but to consider the relationships and conditions that allow the body as a whole to function as well as possible.

Movement and flow play an important role in this for me. This includes not only the visible movement of joints and muscles, but also the mobility of tissues and the free flow of blood, lymph and other body fluids. When movement or flow is restricted, other processes in the body may also be affected. Through osteopathic treatment, I aim to create space where the body needs it, so that different structures and systems can continue to work together as effectively as possible.

For me, however, health is broader than the physical body alone. How someone feels, lives, moves, sleeps and deals with strain and stress all influence the whole person. Body and mind cannot truly be separated in this respect. Prolonged stress, for example, can manifest physically, while physical complaints can in turn affect how someone feels and functions.

It is precisely this interconnectedness that makes osteopathy so interesting to me. I do not see my role as “fixing” an isolated part of the body, but as looking for where the body may need support so that it can function and adapt as well as possible.