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Ostepathy & Chiropractic
By Roger Kingston of Roger Kingston - Osteopath
Osteopathy & Chiropractic - what’s the difference I must be asked this question daily and in truth the answer can only ever be based on one’s own personal experiences. The professions themselves have been reluctant to make a formal statement on this so I’ll have a go and hope I don’t upset too many on either side of the fence. Both Osteopathy and Chiropractic developed in the American Mid West around the time of the Civil War and there are many stories as to which started first. One story is that Daniel Palmer was a student of Dr Still’s, the founder of Osteopathy. Palmer went on to develop Chiropractic based on the premise that all illnesses were the result of spinal malalignment and the only way to health was through spinal manipulation. Dr Still on the other hand focussed his attention to restriction in the spine, soft tissues, organs and the peripheral limbs. There were also fundamental differences early on in their explanations of what they were doing. From those early days when there were no antibiotics, surgery was primitive and life expectation was low then both osteopaths and chiropractors results were far superior to their brother medics. However with time and development of knowledge medicine improved, new drugs were discovered like anaesthetics and antibiotics and thus medicine moved forwards. The Osteopaths in the States were however “Osteopathic Drs” and thus incorporated all the new advances into their practices. The Chiropractors kept it “pure” and took another path which retained their profession as a hands on and drug free profession, perhaps their only concession to technology was to x-rays which became integral to diagnosing “subluxations” in the spine. To this day the American Osteopaths train in both Osteopathy and medicine though few actually now use their hands but they are most likely to be found as GPs (family medicine Drs) whereas their MD colleagues rarely take this path. In the UK and Australia, Osteopaths followed the path of Chiropractic and remained “drug free and hands on only. Hence they left the path taken by their American colleagues and went their own way, a similar path to the chiropractors but from a different starting point, philosophy, technique but with a similar aim to help those suffering. So after 80 years of independent development what are the differences? The American DO may now be unrecognisable to a Chiropractor and UK Osteopath, but very similar to a UK Dr (MD). A Chiropractor and UK Osteopath may initially look very similar to the patient but to either of the professionals the differences are obvious. So let me try and explain them. Firstly both professionals are well trained in accredited universities and are registered with registration bodies that maintain professional standards protecting the public. Both will predominantly treat people complaining of back, neck, shoulder pain, headaches and soft tissue pain. Many will specialise in sports injuries, rehabilitation and many osteopaths will specialise in treating babies and pregnant women. Your first visit to either will involve having a case history taken and examined much in the way your GP / MD would. From there you will be watched doing various movements like bending from side to side and deep breathing. Then the Chiropractor will probably want to take x-rays where the Osteopath will put his hands on and palpate you, his hands listening to your tissues and homing in on problematic areas. Listening to the tissues and assessing the quality of movement of the joints and soft tissues helps to form an Osteopathic diagnosis in contrast to the Chiropractor whose concern is the position of the vertebral segment in the spine. The Chiropractor will say his diagnosis is extremely specific where the Osteopath will take a more general view that multiple tissues and factors are important in restoring health. When it comes to treatment the Chiropractor may use a special treatment table that has multiple spring loaded positionable segments so the patient can be positioned so that minimal force needs to be used to manipulate the vertebra in a specific direction determined by xray analysis. The Osteopath will usually use a flat, broad table and will use extensive massage like techniques, gentle rocking / oscillatory movements, stretching and manipulation. Treatment is usually applied to the whole spine rather than to one or two specific segments.Manipulation is often described as being “long lever” as opposed to the Chiropractor’s “short lever” techniques. An approach unique to Osteopathy is that of tissue listening and motility treatment. Hands are placed on an area of pain and the Osteopath will listen for some time before the patient experiences a sense of warmth and release of restriction and pain in the area. The essence of true healing. So who should you see if your back is giving you pain? Well both Chiropractors and Osteopaths are both damn good chaps, well trained and safe. I’d suggest you ask for a recommendation from your Dr or a friend who has used one as this is usually the best way. Alternatively you may ask for a list of names from the respective professional organisations where you live.
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http://www.coca.com.au/
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If you used a house as an analogy it sounds like from your description that the Chiropractor would look mostly at the foundation (spine) where the Osteopath would look at the entire structure for problems including the foundation. Would that be an accurate analogy?
CONTRIBUTOR'S REPLY
That pretty much sums it up. But to be fair many chiropractors will look at the whole picture but historically their perspective is the spine predominantly.
Thank you Roger for a very intelligent and informative intel. I think I told you earlier that one of my friends is a D.O.
Regards,
Jim
Thank you for sharing this detailed information, Roger.
I've been seeing a chiropractor for over a year, and he keeps my back lined up. The stretch table is very useful in the process.
Best wishes.
Frederick
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