Indigenous roots of osteopathy

Abstract

We explore the historical connection of Andrew Taylor Still, hereafter referred to as Still, with Indigenous peoples of the Central Plains, USA, notably the Shawnee, Pawnee, Kickapoo, Cherokee, and Pottawatomie. These nations had well-developed forms of hands-on healing and practicing lightning bone setting. We trace evidence through Still for his connectedness with these people and respect for their traditions. We use an autoethnographic approach to explore the traditional hands-on therapies of these nations and discovered that they are quite similar to osteopathy. The authors compared practices, finding that American osteopathy was strikingly similar to what is practiced by traditional Cherokee hands-on healers. We propose that Still did not invent osteopathy de novo but built it on Indigenous practices already existing among the tribes of Missouri. We believe this is important because the osteopathic community does not acknowledge any contribution of Indigenous people to their field, which should change.