Nature

Thus we have unbounded faith that Nature’s chemistry is the doctor and the only one whom we can depend for relief. Nature abounds with remedies necessary for her use in all conditions.
                 -- A. T. Still

One of the fundamental principles contained within Osteopathic philosophy is having an absolute respect for the healing power of Nature. Dr. Still said that we should use “Nature’s remedies for treating the sick” and that “Nature’s chemistry is the doctor.”

Nature’s “chemistries” and “remedies” are the known (and unknown) processes of healing. The known healing remedies and chemistries are included in the therapeutic physiologic systems that are activated during pathologic events by the body’s attempt to maintain homeostasis. We can measure certain material elements and functions involved with known therapeutic processes. We can quantitate, for example, the amount of immunoglobulins increased to fight an infection or the number of fibroblasts in the tissues following trauma. We can measure alterations in blood flow. We can follow changes in EEG function or glucose utilization in the brain. All of these measurable physiologic actions and changes in tissue structure are part of Nature’s chemistries and remedies. Dr. Still discussed these “forces of Nature” long before science had the ability to measure them. He had “unbounded faith” in the therapeutic processes that were not yet discovered. He trusted completely, that some thing or some function in the body ecology was doing the true work of healing. He didn’t have a name for them so he globally, or generically, called them Nature.

The Glossary of Osteopathic Terminology, includes in it’s definition of Osteopathic philosophy that, “The body possesses self-regulating mechanisms that are self-healing . . . .” The self-regulating mechanisms maintain homeostasis, sustain physiologic order, allow for moment-to-moment adjustments, and guide the body toward normal structure and function. The self-regulating mechanisms, indicated in the Glossary, are the known, measurable anatomic and physiologic functions that are involved in self-healing. The self-healing denoted in this “modern” definition of Osteopathic philosophy does not only include what is known, it also incorporates what is not yet known. The self-regulatory mechanisms and the self-healing inherent in a living organism are a part of what Dr. Still called Nature.

In the late 1800’s Dr. Still experienced that the true work of healing is generated from Nature and not the doctor. Over 100 years ago, medical science did not have names for all the systems involved in the totality of what is called healing. Some of these mechanisms have been delineated. Other aspects of healing are not yet discovered. Some of the attributes of Nature that are involved with healing will, in my opinion, never be measured and will never have an agreed upon name. Many of these non-material phenomena fall inside our Osteopathic perceptual field but lay outside the objective measurements of science.

Dr. Still worked directly with these unnamed forces of healing that were generated from Nature. He spoke broadly of vitality, vital energies, vital motions, living motions, the powers of life, magnetism, organized life, renovating powers, and the qualities of life.

From his four books we gain an appreciation of his astonishing intelligence and deep wisdom. However, his discussions of the non-material aspects of healing remain limited and enigmatic. William Sutherland, DO once said, “Dr. Still could not speak of all the things he understood about the living human body. We were not ready to hear him.”

Dr. Still was in some ways like a science fiction writer from the past whose extravagant claims are now coming true. In other ways, he held back from revealing all he knew, as Dr. Sutherland intimated. The early Osteopathic profession, and the culture of midwestern frontier America, could not accept many of Dr. Still’s fantastic ideas. I believe that some of what Dr. Still “could not speak of” were the non-material phenomena of healing, or what cannot be measured. The majority of the early Osteopathic profession wanted to only learn biomechanics. It was Dr. Sutherland, a direct student of Dr. Still, who was one of the first to publicly present what “could not be spoken.” Dr. Sutherland used general and mysterious terms like the Breath of Life, Tides, and Potency to describe his experiences of the unknown. These were Dr. Sutherland’s personal terms for what he felt, perceived, sensed, and directly encountered.

Every Osteopath has experienced some category of phenomena that has no name and feels mysterious. These unnamed forces are the power behind an Osteopathic Treatment. We don’t need to name a force of Nature in order to work with it. We only need to be aware of what is perceivable and then trust the unknown powers of healing manifested via Nature. The power inclusive to Osteopathy is based upon the authority found in Nature, not upon the personal power of the doctor.

Dr. Still said, “The osteopath who succeeds best does so because he looks to Nature for knowledge and obeys her teachings, then he gets good results.” We Osteopaths succeed because we trust Nature. Our patients improve and are healed because we have “unbounded faith” that Nature is in the position of power. When we obey the teachings of Nature, our patients are the truest recipients of success. Their success is revealed as healing, on what ever level is necessary.

Dr. Still did not just appreciate Nature as the force that performs actual healing. He did not just experience Nature as the true doctor responsible for the success of an Osteopathic Treatment. He saw Nature as an effect of the Divine. Dr. Still revealed, “You should ever remember that Osteopathy is confined to the immutable laws of nature, and an unerring Deity who is its Author.” Nature is not the absolute foundation of Osteopathy in the experience of Dr. Still. The foundation stone of our work is Deity who is the Author of Nature.

Steve Paulus, DO