Akademik

Osteopathy
A system of therapy founded in the 19th century based on the concept that the body can formulate its own remedies against diseases when the body is in a normal structural relationship, has a normal environment and enjoys good nutrition. While osteopathy takes a “holistic” approach to medical care, it also embraces modern medical knowledge, including medication, surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy when warranted. Osteopathy is particularly concerned with maintaining correct relationships between bones, muscles, and connective tissues. The practice of osteopathy often includes chiropractic-like adjustments of skeletal structures. Craniosacral therapy, a practice in which the bones and tissues of the head and neck are manipulated, also arose in osteopathy.
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1. Any disease of bone. SYN: osteopathia. 2. A school of medicine based upon a concept of the normal body as a vital machine capable, when in correct adjustment, of making its own remedies against infections and other toxic conditions; practitioners use the diagnostic and therapeutic measures of conventional medicine in addition to manipulative measures. SYN: osteopathic medicine. [osteo- + G. pathos, suffering]
- alimentary o. bone disease due to dietary deficiency.

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os·te·op·a·thy .äs-tē-'äp-ə-thē n, pl -thies
1) a disease of bone
2) a system of medical practice based on a theory that diseases are due chiefly to loss of structural integrity which can be restored by manipulation of the parts supplemented by therapeutic measures (as use of medicine or surgery)
os·teo·path·ic .äs-tē-ə-'path-ik adj
os·teo·path·i·cal·ly -i-k(ə-)lē adv

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n.
a system of diagnosis and treatment based on the theory that many diseases are associated with disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Diagnosis and treatment of these disorders involve palpation, manipulation, and massage. Osteopathy provides relief for many disorders of bones and joints, especially those producing back pain.
• osteopath n.
• osteopathic adj.

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os·te·op·a·thy (os″te-opґə-the) [osteo- + -pathy] 1. any disease of a bone. 2. a system of therapy founded by Andrew Taylor Still (1828–1917), based on the theory that the body can make its own remedies against disease and other toxic conditions when it is in normal structural relationship and has favorable environmental conditions and adequate nutrition. It uses generally accepted physical, medicinal, and surgical methods of diagnosis and therapy, while placing chief emphasis on maintenance of normal body mechanics and on manipulative methods of detecting and correcting faulty structure.

Medical dictionary. 2011.