Osteopathy was founded in the 19th century by Andrew Taylor Still, an American physician.
Andrew Taylor Still – Founder of Osteopathy
Personal Tragedy
In 1864, Still returned from the American Civil War and was confronted with a profound personal crisis. Earlier that year, an epidemic of cerebrospinal meningitis had swept through the region, claiming the lives of three of his children. One month after the epidemic, he also lost his first wife, Mary Vaughan, due to complications during childbirth. Later, a daughter from his second marriage to Mary Elvira Turner died of pneumonia.
His inability to save those closest to him, together with his difficult experiences as a physician during the American Civil War, led Still to question and ultimately reject much of what he had been taught about conventional medicine and to seek new and more effective approaches to healthcare.
New Revolution
Still’s research was grounded in the study of anatomy. Having grown up as a hunter and farmer, he developed an early understanding of the structural relationships between bones, muscles and organs — knowledge that he later applied to the study of the human skeleton. He came to believe that many diseases could be alleviated or treated without the use of medication. He considered it key to identify and correct anatomical abnormalities that interfered with the free flow of blood and the body’s “nervous force.”
Facing Challenges
Initially, Still faced significant opposition to his new theories and techniques. The local church condemned his claims regarding practical, manual treatment as sacrilegious. Still’s brothers were embarrassed by his outspoken questioning of medical traditions. They criticized him for discouraging patients with his new approach to treatment and for neglecting his family and farm in pursuit of his “crazy” ideas.
When Still asked for the opportunity to present his ideas at Baker University, which had been established with the help of the Still family in the 1850s, the university authorities refused. In 1874, Still decided to leave Kansas and move to Macon, Missouri, where he hoped that his ideas would be received more positively. This did not happen, and after several months of trying, Still moved north to Kirksville.
There, his practices eventually began to gain acceptance, enough for him to open a practice in the town square in March 1875. Advertising himself as a magnetic healer and a “lightning bone-setter” and traveling to towns as far away as Hannibal, Still gradually built his reputation. Reports began to spread about a physician whose drug-free system of manipulative medicine—officially named “osteopathy” in 1885—was able to cure many seemingly hopeless cases.
Birth of Osteopathy
When Still realized that more patients were coming to him than he could treat, he decided to train his children and several other people to assist him in his practice. At one point, there were so many people interested in learning that Still was persuaded to establish a school. The American School of Osteopathy (ASO) was founded in Kirksville in 1892 in a two-room building. The first group of students consisted of 5 women and 16 men—including three of Still’s children and one of his brothers. The first graduates completed the school in 1894.
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