Formation and development of osteopathy as a scientific discipline

Abstract

The formation and development of osteopathy as a scientific discipline is considered. Despite its one and a half century history, osteopathy is a relatively young medical specialty. At the same time, throughout the history of the existence of osteopathy, its supporters carried out an active search for scientific evidence of its effectiveness. Currently, osteopathy is going through the stage of scientification, its formation as a scientific discipline. However, even now even the term osteopathy itself is often interpreted quite loosely and, in some cases, tendentiously. In this regard, the purpose of this work is to trace the development of osteopathy — from the earliest works of its founders to the latest stage of development, when osteopathy has become more and more consistent with the basic requirements of evidence-based medicine. To achieve this goal, much attention is paid to all stages of the formation and development of osteopathy, both abroad and in Russia. There are considered such problems as the formation of the basic terminology, the development and change of the basic concepts of osteopathy, including the concept of osteopathic lesion and the concept of somatic dysfunctions, the development of modern methods of evidence-based medicine, the dynamics of publication activity of osteopathic researchers. It concludes that new ways of obtaining the data about the health effects of osteopathy will continue to emerge, and the level of evidence and the number of quality clinical trials are likely to change.