The human body is a living machine which is
supremely adaptable to changes within and
around it. For example, if you shift your
weight from two feet to one, a series of
complex changes will occur within the muscular
and bony systems of the body from head to foot
to enable you to establish balance under the
new circumstances.
A similar complex adaptation mechanism goes
into operation in response to an injury.
However, if the injury produced a local change
which passed beyond the limit of spontaneous
resolution, the various adaptations made in
all other parts of the body structure persist
as new demands are made upon this living
mechanism.
In response to these numerous structural
changes, changes in circulation and nerve
impulses also occur which in turn produce
areas of greater susceptibility to infection,
or hypertrophy or degeneration. The whole
range of these later changes makes up the
diverse and complex array of human
disease.
This is the osteopathic concept of disease-
an effect, which is the climax to a whole
series of changes in response to the various
stresses of life superimposed on an original
cause.
In the treatment of the patient - attention
is given to the total patient and not just to
this manifested effect. The osteopathic
physician searches for these fundamental
causes while he is also alleviating the local,
presenting complaint. Through the use of his
trained, perceptive, discriminating fingers he
will search for, find, and endeavor to correct
the fundamental causes thus producing a more
enduring and complete change within the body
which will permit a reversal of those adaptive
changes and restoration of health. At the same
time he many employ in addition any of the
modern methods of treatment, medicinal or
surgical , as indicated, to alleviate the
local distress, but the need for these is
reduced because of his attention to first
causes.
The injuries sustained at birth ranging from
the imperceptible which can only be detected
by trained skillful fingers, to the gross
which are immediately obvious to the naked eye
may provide the first cause on which numerous
adaptive effects are superimposed. A car
accident in which a whiplash type of injury
was sustained is another of these often
obscure primary causes which through the years
accumulates adaptive changes until the time
comes when the accumulation of effects
manifests as a gastric ulcer, a heart
condition, an arthritis, a colitis, or any
other named disease.
Numerous less well-defined complaints such as
nervousness, fatigue, insomnia, indigestion,
backache, headache, etc. may have persisted so
long that they have been taken for granted.
But when the structural disturbances produced
by that original injury are corrected, the
patient is surprised to find that those
persistent, habitual complaints have
gone.
These are but two examples of the influence
of causes in the production of effects namely
early injuries and second disease. Their
number can be multiplied indefinitely by the
multitude of diverse mishaps that occur to
human beings and the unlimited range of
combinations and variations which may
accumulate as the body strives to adapt and
accommodate to the stresses and needs of daily
life. These effects may be further complicated
by nutritional deficiencies, toxic influences
such as smog, disinfectants, pesticides, drugs
and so on, and by emotional and mental
circumstances. Such factors as these must all
be considered, by those primary causes need to
be found and eliminated if a state of positive
health rather than a mere absence of disease
is to be achieved.
This is the purpose of osteopathic
manipulation, namely the diagnosis and
treatment of the structural and functional
changes within the body by the trained,
perceptive, discriminating skillful hands of
the physician- the mechanic of the human
machine.
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