General Osteopathic Treatment: Status quo – Teil 1

Abstract

Based on the ideas of A.T. Still, the founder of osteopathy, and his own biomechanical model, J.M. Littlejohn developed a method known as General Osteopathic Treatment (GOT). This method was later developed further by J. Wernham, a direct student of Littlejohn, into Body Adjustment and then Total Body Adjustment (TBA). However, in addition to few publications on GOT, there have only been a small number of studies with low evidence to date. Nevertheless, the GOT not only offers current and future osteopaths the opportunity to reflect on the history of their own methods, but also provides them with a diagnostic and therapeutic variation that enables the ideas of the „founding fathers of osteopathy” A.T. Still and J.M. Littlejohn to be implemented in everyday practice.

Part 1 focuses on the historical development, the conceptual definition, and a subject-specific literature review, with particular emphasis on the state of research up to 2015.