Osopathic medicine currently serves the health needs of more than 30 million Americans. In this book the author chronicles the history of this once-controversial medical movement from its origins in the nineteenth century to the present, describing the philosophy and practice of osteopathy as well as its impact on medical care.

This antiquarian volume contains Andrew Taylor Still’s 1902 treatise, "The Philosophy and Mechanical Principles of Osteopathy". Within this text, Still explores the principles that differentiate osteopathy from allopathy - and explains how to treat a variety of ailments and diseases. This detailed and accessible book written by the father of osteopathy himself is highly recommended for those with an interest in the subject. It will be of special utility to massage therapists and practitioners of allied treatments. Contents include: “My Authorities”, “Age of Osteopathy”, “Demand for Progress”, “Truth is Truth”, “Man is Triune”, “Trash”, “Osteopathy”, “Nature is Health”, “Our Relation to Other Systems”, “Important Studies”, etcetera. Many antiquarian books such as this are increasingly hard to come by and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

In 1892, Andrew Taylor Still did the unimaginable when he accepted women and men equally in his newly opened American School of Osteopathy. Thomas Quinn, DO, showcases some of the valiant women who rose above adversity to become osteopathic doctors in those early years, and includes prominent women osteopathic physicians up to the present time. The stories of their fight against the inequality of the sexes in medicine are intertwined with the struggles of osteopathy to be accepted as a valid scientific practice, illuminating the innovative and determined individuals who helped osteopathic medicine develop into the flourishing profession it is today.

As a young doctor in the mid-1800s, Andrew Taylor Still cared for sick and injured people on the frontier and on the battlefields of the Civil War. But he thought the common practices of bloodletting and using toxic medicines did more harm than good for sick people. He knew there had to be a better way to help them. Andrew studied books and examined the natural world around him to make a new medical model, discovering a way to manipulate muscles, bones, and nerves with just his hands. At first, people thought his ideas were crazy, but today the medical system he developed, osteopathic medicine, is used to treat sick people all around the world.