The Roots and Adaptations of Osteopathic Spirituality
Amy DeBaets, PhD, Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences
In the 19th century, American medical practice experienced tremendous upheaval, a rejection of many traditional practices of heroic medicine, such as leeching and purging, and the origins of many of the life-saving practices we use today, including antisepsis and anesthesia. Amidst this upheaval, a variety of alternative medical movements emerged, each with its own philosophies of disease and treatment. Of these movements, only osteopathic medicine has adapted and emerged within the US as a fully licensed and accepted form of medical care.
Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of osteopathic medicine, was the son of an itinerant Methodist minister and physician. He trained under his father as a physician but came to reject the medical practices of his day following the deaths of three of his children from spinal meningitis. In the wake of that crisis, he sought to discover a new form of medical practice that would more effectively heal patients without harming them. His techniques of hands-on healing through manipulation of the musculoskeletal system proved effective in treating many of the injuries and illnesses that were common on the American frontier. However, this “laying on of hands” was thought by some to be sacrilegious, usurping the authority of God to heal. He was accepted in the small town of Kirksville, MO only after successfully healing the child of the local Presbyterian minister.
Still’s philosophy of personhood that he brought to osteopathic medicine was influenced by a variety of religious traditions and concepts, and these continue to shape the practice of osteopathic medicine today. From his Methodist heritage he developed a strong sense of egalitarianism, including women as medical students from the beginning. He also maintained an understanding of the perfection of God and inherent goodness of human beings as creations of God, though he rejected Methodism’s focus on human sinfulness. His philosophies of personhood and medicine were also later influenced by Spiritualism and a Deistic-style belief in the divine as an impersonal, yet beneficent and creative force.
His philosophy was that humanity was “triune” in nature – a holistic integration of body, spirit, and mind that was made to work perfectly by a perfect God. This spirituality also led to a belief in the self-healing properties of that perfect creation, that with proper maintenance, the human body did not need the intervention of external drugs, but only internal immunity to be healthy.
The devout belief in self-healing and rejection of drug therapies within early osteopathic medicine did not remain absolute, even in Still’s lifetime. Osteopathic practice within the United States came to adapt to scientific and educational changes while maintaining the strength of its initial philosophical and spiritual impulses. Still and his students accepted the use of anesthesia and antiseptic practices, then later antibiotics and vaccines, and finally, the whole range of therapeutic interventions common to allopathic medicine. This flexibility to integrate new ideas while holding onto a founding spirituality and anthropology can offer lessons in holistic practice to all areas of medicine today.
In the 19th century, American medical practice experienced tremendous upheaval, a rejection of many traditional practices of heroic medicine, such as leeching and purging, and the origins of many of the life-saving practices we use today, including antisepsis and anesthesia. Amidst this upheaval, a variety of alternative medical movements emerged, each with its own philosophies of disease and treatment. Of these movements, only osteopathic medicine has adapted and emerged within the US as a fully licensed and accepted form of medical care.
Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of osteopathic medicine, was the son of an itinerant Methodist minister and physician. He trained under his father as a physician but came to reject the medical practices of his day following the deaths of three of his children from spinal meningitis. In the wake of that crisis, he sought to discover a new form of medical practice that would more effectively heal patients without harming them. His techniques of hands-on healing through manipulation of the musculoskeletal system proved effective in treating many of the injuries and illnesses that were common on the American frontier. However, this “laying on of hands” was thought by some to be sacrilegious, usurping the authority of God to heal. He was accepted in the small town of Kirksville, MO only after successfully healing the child of the local Presbyterian minister.
Still’s philosophy of personhood that he brought to osteopathic medicine was influenced by a variety of religious traditions and concepts, and these continue to shape the practice of osteopathic medicine today. From his Methodist heritage he developed a strong sense of egalitarianism, including women as medical students from the beginning. He also maintained an understanding of the perfection of God and inherent goodness of human beings as creations of God, though he rejected Methodism’s focus on human sinfulness. His philosophies of personhood and medicine were also later influenced by Spiritualism and a Deistic-style belief in the divine as an impersonal, yet beneficent and creative force.
His philosophy was that humanity was “triune” in nature – a holistic integration of body, spirit, and mind that was made to work perfectly by a perfect God. This spirituality also led to a belief in the self-healing properties of that perfect creation, that with proper maintenance, the human body did not need the intervention of external drugs, but only internal immunity to be healthy.
The devout belief in self-healing and rejection of drug therapies within early osteopathic medicine did not remain absolute, even in Still’s lifetime. Osteopathic practice within the United States came to adapt to scientific and educational changes while maintaining the strength of its initial philosophical and spiritual impulses. Still and his students accepted the use of anesthesia and antiseptic practices, then later antibiotics and vaccines, and finally, the whole range of therapeutic interventions common to allopathic medicine. This flexibility to integrate new ideas while holding onto a founding spirituality and anthropology can offer lessons in holistic practice to all areas of medicine today.