One of osteopathy’s most defining characteristics is the physician’s ability to be open-

minded when interacting with patients. This level of understanding primarily requires the
physician to consider the entirety of the human: the physical, psychological, and even spiritual
states. One example of how this way of thinking is crucial to effective treatment of the patient is
when Dr. Still cured a patient who was “laboring under a dangerous form of insanity.” Still
quickly noticed that the patient had a “lesion between the first and second cervical vertebrae, and
after adjustment, the patient’s mental fury subsided” (Ch. 17, p. 207). Here, Still recognized the
patient’s psychological and physical abnormalities and understood that the body is an interrelated
group of organ systems that must be in constant balance. Instead of treating solely the
neurological abnormality, he used this understanding to help link the patient’s circulatory,
nervous, and endocrine systems, which were in misalignment. Thus, a true result of mental relief
was found only after the whole body returned to its naturally balanced network of systems. 

Another example of how the body is a unit and no part functions independently is when
Carl McConnel had fallen heavily onto his buttocks during a baseball game. Because of this, he
began suffering a progressive deterioration of vision that led him to drop out of college. All
renowned eye specialists diagnosed him with having “the beginnings of optic nerve atrophy,” a
problem that limited the illness to his eyes. After much frustration, McConell finally consulted
Charles, Dr. Still’s son working as an osteopath in Chicago. Charles found that the blindness was
instead caused by “disturbed nerve and blood supply,” expanding narrow conclusion made by the
eye specialists. Charles thus directed his treatment to “sprained joints and contracted muscles in
the neck” (Ch. 14, p. 175), and after two months of treatment, McConnel’s eyesight was
restored. Because Charles understood that each organ system is dependent on the others to
satisfy the requirements of both the internal and external environments of the body, his treatment
of McConnel’s severe reduction in vision involved restoring the disruption in the balance
between McConnel’s musculoskeletal, nervous, and circulatory systems. Overall, the alleviation
of the illness could not be achieved until balance and connection was restored.  

The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health maintenance. 

Dr. Still shocked many people with his “magical powers” of simply adjusting the body
and allowing the body to recover itself into health. One example of this is when Still adjusted
Samuel McConnell’s hip after McConnell fell from a streetcar and several physicians diagnosed
his swollen knee as “sub-acute traumatic synovitis” that required amputation. In only three
minutes, Still found that the “cause of the problem lay in the hip, and after adjusting the
offending joint, he informed the lumberman he was cured” (Ch. 16, p. 191). Instead of
amputating McConnell’s swollen leg as other physicians suggested, Still quickly realized that his
role was to assist the body in its own-self healing processes to reduce illness. Thus, connecting
and restoring proper nervous and circulatory function in his patient’s hip helped reduce swelling
in the knee and overall exemplified the body’s natural ability to heal itself.

Furthermore, when Dr. Still was working as a hospital steward during the Civil War, he
came across a patient who got shot and sustained a shattered femur for a distance of four inches.
Although other doctors favored amputation, Still “boxed the leg” by bandaging the leg straight
and eventually “allowed the man to walk with a crutch six months later” (Ch. 4, p. 45). Still
believed that the body contained within itself components, like the immune system, that help
preserve wellness, and aid in the repair of injury, even in situations with incurable damage. Thus,
Still’s treatment of simply covering the leg to avoid infection allowed the patient’s natural and
acquired immunity to overcome illness and heal the wound.  

Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.

Dr. Still greatly valued the third osteopathic tenet: that the musculoskeletal system is
crucial and can contribute to malfunctions in other body systems. For instance, when Dr. Still
was examining a woman who complained of chest pain and difficulty breathing, he completed a
physical exam and found that the “lower border of a rib seemed wrong and asymmetrical.” After
“altering the rib’s alignment and working the joint free, the woman’s fever broke and her labored
respirations ceased” (Ch. 6, p. 75), proving that a structural abnormality was the cause of other
symptoms and diseases. Still’s use of manipulative methods, such as rib adjustments, helped
restore complementary components of the musculoskeletal system like the patient’s respiratory
and circulatory systems. Therefore, only when the body’s physical structure is in proper
alignment can a person strengthen their immunity and maintain their health. 

Also, on one winter day, Dr. Still came across an old woodchopper named Joe Hall sitting
outside his house gasping for breath. Besides the patient’s known history of Asthma, Still
quickly did a physical exam on him and found the patient’s ribs were out of alignment. As
treatment after the examination, “Still corrected some ribs, and the man’s respiration soon
calmed” (Ch. 10, p. 121). Here, Still not only showed that a problem in the patient’s
musculoskeletal system can be associated with other organ illnesses (such as difficulty
breathing); he also proved that fixing and adjusting palpable structures, such as ribs or the spinal
muscles, can drastically improve function in surrounding systems.

Rational treatment is based upon an understanding of the basic principles of body unity,
self-regulation, and the interrelationship of structure and function.

The fourth tenet of osteopathic medicine focuses on utilizing all three of the previous
tenets in order to give the more effective treatment.