Osteopathy

“ No part is so small or remote that it is not in direct connection with some part or chain of the lymphatics. The doctor of Osteopathy has much to think about when he consults natural remedies, and how they are supplied and administered, and as disease is the effect of tardy deposits in some or all parts of the body, reason would bring us to hunt a solvent of such deposits, which hinder the natural motion of blood and other fluids in functional works, which are to keep the body pure from any substance that would check vital action. ”

“ When Osteopathy is practiced as a combination of all manipulations and other natural aids to the inherent recuperative powers of the body, it will appeal to reason in such a way and bring such good results as to make and keep friends.
I am fully persuaded, and I believe the facts when presented will establish it, that it is the physio-therapy in Osteopathy that wins and holds the favor of intelligent people. But Osteopathy in its own name, taught as “a well-rounded system of healing adequate for every emergency,” has grown and spread largely as a “patent medicine” flourishes, i. ”

“ NATURE'S CHEMISTRY.
Osteopathy believes that all parts of the human body do work on chemical compounds, and from the general supply manufacture for local wants; thus the liver builds for itself of the material that [Pg 41] is prepared in its own division laboratory. The same of heart and brain. No disturbing or hindering causes will be tolerated to stay if an Osteopath can find and remove it. We must reason that to withhold the supply from a limb, to wither away would be natural. We suffer from two causes. ”

“ If truth always grows under persecution, how can the American Medical Association kill Osteopathy when it is so well known by the people?
Nearly four thousand Osteopaths are scattered in thirty-six States where they have some legal recognition, and they are treating thousands of invalids every day. If they are performing the wonderful cures Osteopathic journals tell of, why are we told that the welfare of the system depends upon the noise that is made and the boosting that is done? ”

“ In conclusion, Osteopathy is much overestimated by some, and much underestimated by many. It will do good to most anybody, and harm to nobody. It will cure thousands of cases that the regular physicians cannot cure; but, on the other hand, there are thousands of cases that Osteopathy should not attempt to cure without the aid of the modern school of physicians and surgeons. ”

“ Osteopathy asserts that trying to heal the body of an ailment caused by
a dislocated member, be it a bone, ligament, or nerve, by which abnormal
pressure is maintained upon a blood vessel or a nerve, would be like
trying to operate a machine with an important cog out of gear. ”

“ Osteopathy, chiropractic, naprapathy, neurotherapy and spondylotherapy, as we have learned, are various systems of maipulative treatment which have been devised mainly to correct spinal and other bony lesions, shrinkage and contracture of muscles, ligaments and other connective tissues.
Important as these methods are in the treatment of acute and chronic diseases, by themselves they are not all-sufficient because they deal only with the mechanical causes of disease, not with the chemical, thermal or with the mental and psychical. ”

“ Osteopathy attempts to specialize the mechanical principle in dealing with all kinds of curable diseases, acute as well as chronic, graduating pressure, tension, vibration, and all the mechanical forms of physical stimulation, in their application to muscles, bones, blood-vessels, nerves, and organs of the body, so as to gain therapeutic effects. ”

“ Osteopathy furnishes valuable information concerning the connection between disease conditions and misplacements of vertebrae and other bony structures, contractions or abnormal relaxation of muscles and ligaments, and inflammation of nerves and nerve centers. ”

“ Thus to study well the frame work of the chest should be with the greatest care. Every joint of the neck and spine has much to do with a healthy heart and lung, because all vital fluids from crown to sacrum do or have passed through heart and lungs, and any slip of bone, strain or bruise will affect to some degree the usefulness of that fluid in its vitality, when appropriated in the place or organ it should sustain in a good healthy state. To the Osteopath, his first and last duty is to look well to a healthy blood and nerve supply. ”

“ An Osteopath feels bad to have to hunt cause for diseases, and not know how to start out to find the mechanical cause. He feels that the people expect more than guessing of an Osteopath. He feels that he must put his hand on the cause and prove what he says by what he does, that he will not get off by the feeble minded trash of stale habits that go with doctors of medicine, and by his knowledge he must show his ability to go beyond the musty bread of symptomatology and water his patients made, from the cider of the ripe apples from the tree of knowledge. ”

“ AS elsewhere expressed, the fast in itself is but a means to an end, but by its use in the treatment of disease, many mechanical defects in organs are entirely overcome through muscular rest and relaxation. Certain accessories are, however, brought into play. Bodily cleanliness and sanitation are essential, and mechanical adjustment of bones, muscular manipulation, and the internal bath are all invaluable concomitants of treatment.
In connection with muscular manipulation and bone adjustment, two distinct schools of healing have arisen in late years, those of Osteopathy and Chiropractic. ”

“ If found normal at shoulder, then go to neck, out of which go all or most of the nerves of the arm; if he finds no lesion or cause equal to the trouble so far, then he has been careless in his search and should go over and over from marrow to periostium of all bones of the neck and head, because there are only five divisions in which a lesion can exist. ”

“ If not it will fail to execute its part for want of power—for by it all blood must move. These nerves are found in plexuses in all parts of the body; they are abundant in the skin, fascia, muscle, lymphatics and all organs great and small. The Osteopath must know or learn that no infringement can be tolerated in any part. Nature's demands are surely absolute, and require that the last farthing shall be paid in full. Now for a start—we will explore the neck ”

“ Your Osteopathic knowledge has surely taught you, that with an intimate acquaintance with the nerve and blood supply, you can arrive at a knowledge of the hidden cause of disease, and conduct your treatment to a successful termination. This is not by your knowledge of chemistry, but by the absolute knowledge of what is in man. ”

“ An Osteopath to successfully treat flux or [Pg 147] bloody dysentery must reason and address his attention first to the soreness and irritation of bowels, which he finds suffering with œdema of mucous membrane of all the glands and blood vessels belonging to the lower bowels. As quiet is the first thing desired, he will direct his attention to the sensory nerves of the colon and small intestines, in order to reduce the resistance of the veins and diminish the arterial action. ”

“ He should let his eye camp day and night on the spinal column; to know if the bones articulate truly in all facets and other bearings, and never rest day or night until he knows the spine is true and in line from atlas to sacrum, with all ribs known to be in perfect union with processes of spine. In reasoning for probable causes of diseases of chest, we are met with the fact that the heart and lungs are housed up, and out of [Pg 70] reach of the hand and eye. We hear a cough, see blood and other substances after they pass out of the lungs ”

“ Then he treats to reduce by medicine to carry the waste fluids to bowels, bladder and skin, with tonics to give strength and stimulants to increase the action of the heart in order to force local deposits to the general excretory system. At this time let the Osteopathic Doctor take a close hunt for any fold in muscles of the system that would cause a cut-off of [Pg 123] the normal supply of blood or suspend the action of nerves whose office is to give power and action to the excretory system sufficient to keep the dead matter carried off as fast as it accumulates. ”

“ It must be kept stretched, just as Nature arranged that it should, like a drum-head. It is attached all around to the chest, though it crosses five or six ribs on its descent from the seventh rib to the sternum at the lower point and down to fourth lumbar vertebra. It is a continuous slanting floor, above bowels and abdominal organs, and below heart and lungs. It must, by all reason, be kept normal in tightness at all places, without a fold or wrinkle, that could press the aorta, nerves, œsophagus, or anything that contributes to the supply or circulation of any vital substance. ”

“ As the neck has much to do with the arm, we should keep a living picture of the forms of each bone, how and where it articulates with others, how it is joined by ligaments, what blood vessels, nerves and muscles cross or range with it lengthwise, because to overlook a small nerve and blood vessel you may fail to remove a goitre, and all diseases of the head, face and neck. ”

“ Before we treat of the head, we must follow blood from the heart to all organs of the head. Not only look at the pictures in Gray, Morris, Gerrish, or some finely illustrated work on anatomy, but we must apply a searching hand and know to a certainty that the constrictors of neck, or other muscles or ligaments do not pull cervical and hyoid bones so close as to bruise pneumogastric or any other nerves or fibres that would cause spasmodic contraction of digastric, stylo-hyoid or the whole remaining group of neck muscles and ligaments, with which you are or should be very familiar. ”

“ To illustrate, we will take the lower limb, whether there is lameness, soreness, gouty, rheumatic, neuralgic, swollen, shrunken, feverish, cold, smooth and glassy, sores, ulcers, erysipelas, milkleg, varicose veins, or any defect that the patient may complain of, who is the only reliable book or being of symptomatology. For convenience we will divide that lower limb into five parts, the foot, leg, thigh, pelvis and lumbar region. The patient (symptomatologist) tells us he has a pain in front, center and under part of foot. ”

“ Often called a silent disease, osteoporosis may begin and then progress without any warning signs. Bone mass decreases, causing bones to be more susceptible to fracture. Each year more than 1.3 million Americans over 45 years of age suffer bone fractures as a result of this malady. Fractures of the spine, hips, and wrist are the most common, although any of the bones may be affected.
As the number of elderly persons increases, so will the magnitude of the problem. However, we now know that osteoporosis may not be an inevitable part of aging. ”

“ In cases of combined endosteal and periosteal thickening, the pain usually disappears under anti-syphilitic treatment but the changes in the bone persist.
Osteomalacia is an acquired disease which causes marked softening and changes in the bones. The disease begins irregularly and often progresses with or without remissions. The progress is more marked during pregnancy. The first sign is pain in the bones, which is increased by pressure, and this is especially true of pressure over the ribs. There are also muscular cramps and contractures.
Osteitis Deformans. ”

“ This year we again set aside a week to mark our concern over osteoporosis. This bone-weakening disease is the most common cause of bone fractures in the elderly and is a major health problem that afflicts millions of Americans. ”

“ They exhibit a rough symmetry; they rarely attain any size; and they usually cease growing when the skeleton attains maturity--the conversion of cartilage into bone being then completed. While they originate from the ossifying junctions of the long bones, they tend, as the shaft increases in length, to project from the surface of the bone at some distance from the ossifying junction and to "point" away from it. They may cause symptoms by "locking" the adjacent joint or by pressing upon nerve-trunks or blood vessels. ”

“ In the shafts of the long bones, owing to the excessive absorption of bone, the cortex becomes porous, the spongy bone is rarefied, and the bones readily bend or break under mechanical influences. When the disease is arrested, a process of repair sets in which often results in the bones becoming denser and heavier than normal. In the flat bones of the skull, the absorption may result in the entire disappearance of areas of bone, leaving a membrane which dimples like thin cardboard under the pressure of the finger--a condition known as _craniotabes_. ”

“ Where there are two parallel bones--as in the leg, for example--the growth of the diseased bone may be impaired, and the other continuing its normal growth becomes disproportionately long; less frequently the growth of the diseased bone is exaggerated, and it becomes the longer of the two. In either case, the longer bone becomes curved. An _obliquity_ of the bone may result when one half of the epiphysial cartilage is destroyed and the other half continues to form bone, giving rise to such deformities as knock-knee and club-hand. ”

“ Whatever care might be taken, it would be difficult to prevent a vast swelling, long continued pains, and perhaps even a caries of the bone exposed to the air, with all those sufferings and dangers, to which such an accident gives origin. In such a case all the bones of the foot have been known to become carious, a state of things, which calls for the ultimate resources of art, and draws after it a train of evils, which it is always of the utmost importance to prevent. ”