Consider This

Our work as Osteopaths bridges the obvious and the subtle. Sometimes we apply the principles of Osteopathy in a linear, mechanical way and in other moments we engage phenomena that not only cannot be measured but have no agreed upon name.

Dr. Still once said, “The Osteopath who succeeds best does so because he looks to Nature for knowledge and obeys her teachings . . .” In every category of application, the Osteopath who succeeds is the one who respects that true healing arises from something greater than resolving simple biomechanical dysfunctions. There is an originating force that gives us life, and healing comes from this force. By referencing something more than somatics in an Osteopathic Treatment, we engage a reference point that is the true source of healing.

Way beyond the recognized Osteopathic techniques exists the field of our attention. We cannot function as clinicians unless we embrace our patients within the field of our attention. By “paying attention” we discover a patient’s necessity, i.e. their most important and accessible need in the moment, and then offer a specific treatment.

To pay attention well, we must be open. We must be perceptually empty. We must be ready to receive data from the history and exam, make a diagnosis, and then “do something” to help our patient. In a subtle Osteopathic Treatment, the examination, diagnosis, and treatment phases occur rapidly and seamlessly.

We take the information given to us in an Osteopathic examination and accomplish more than intellectual processing. In essence, we consider the information given to us by our patient. This interaction between two sentient beings—doctor and patient—is complex and mutual.

The operative word in the preceding paragraph is consider. I’d like to examine this word in greater detail. The word consider is defined in several ways. It is defined variously to mean: to think carefully, judge, examine, respect, to weigh possibilities before deciding, to take into account, and to look carefully with concentration. Every word has it’s modern usage and each word has meanings based upon it’s origins or history. These sometimes forgotten meanings still permeate the unconscious aspect of a word and add power beyond our understanding. Like many words, the verb, to consider, has uncertain origins. It was first utilized, in print, in 14th century France and was derived from the Latin considerare. The underlying idea of considerare is one of examining the stars to divine the future. The suffix of consider is sidere which is Latin for belonging to the stars. The prefix, con- means “to be with.” Other earlier expressions of the word define it as a contemplation or a beholding.

On a deeper level, the word consider means to behold and to be with the stars. In an expansive way, to consider means to behold the Universe.

Dr. Still taught us that accessing structure, or the biomechanical elements, is a doorway to something other. Material contact is only a starting point, not the end point of an Osteopathic Treatment. During treatment, the Osteopath is not just paying attention, gathering data, or processing information. In the ideal situation, he is not judging or concentrating. The Osteopath expansively beholds the Universe. We engage the effects of the sacred, or what Dr. Still called “the attributes of Life,” within our patients to help them achieve healing.

Consider this, as an Osteopath, would you prefer to just fix a mechanical somatic dysfunction or give an anti-pain treatment? Or would you prefer to be with the stars and allow the Divine to permeate your patient’s future? Interestingly, we can give a mechanical treatment while, at the same time, considering something more. Osteopathy, as taught by Dr. Still does not separate the physical from the spiritual. During an Osteopathic Treatment, as we move effortlessly between the material and non-material aspects of care, our priority is that we consider our patients.

Steve Paulus, DO