WHILE THE OSTEOPATHIC PRINCIPLES ARE THE SAME,
that there is an inherent drive towards self-healing which is both perpetual and unerring, the basic techniques taught in all the Osteopathic Medical Schools range from gentle, specific positioning in order to reestablish balance across a joint, to more direct, thrusting techniques, also specifically positioned, through a barrier. Some techniques enlist the muscular contractions of the patient to aid in the re-establishment of motion, while others rely on only the slightest changes in pressure from the skilled, observant hands of the practitioner. The other element of variation in the practice of osteopathy from practitioner to practitioner is that osteopathy is an art as well as a science. Ask two sculptors with a spinning wheel and a slab of clay to make a bowl and you will invariably get two different bowls. Now imagine the slab of clay is a living, thinking, changing body with its own innate drive towards becoming the truest, most perfect bowl it can be, and you will understand both the impossibility of making the same bowl, as well as the impossibility of even following the same process of creation. All aspects of the practice of medicine could be considered art as well as science. But the decision of whether to start a patient on either 20mg or 40mg of a lipid-lowering drug is different from the moment-to-moment, constant sensitive feedback from the health of the patient to the thinking fingers of the doctor.
Most of what is taught in Osteopathic Medical Schools can be considered mechanical in concept. An area of "lesion" in the system is evaluated, whether this is a compression, strain, or other mechanism of reduced motion, and a treatment process is initiated to restore a more normal relationship between the parts. The Biodynamic philosophy, brought to light by Dr. James Jealous, is of a different nature. Biodynamic principles are based on the creative, generative processes present during embryonic growth, which later become the regenerative, restorative, and healing forces present throughout childhood and adulthood. In the Biodynamic model, the patient is treated through the Osteopath's direct connection, or synchronization, with the source of these restorative drives, following Natural Law. When this synchronization occurs, and the patient is ushered through the quieting of their own discord, through the balance of their nervous system, the presence of homeostasis in their fluids- both circulating and fluctuating, the process of restoration shows its presence in the entirety of the organism. There is no separation of parts.
