The Origin of Osteopathic Medicine – Dr. Richard Chmielewski

What is Osteopathic Medicine and where did it come from? Dr. Richard Chmielewski of the Falcon Clinic in Washington Mills says the practice comes from the Civil War era from physician Andrew Taylor Still.

Chmielewski says that Still was growing frustrated with the medical techniques of the time,  and believed that "to find health should be the object of the doctor. Anyone can find disease."

Chmielewski says that the concept of osteopathy is to take advantage of the fact that the human body has the amazing ability to heal itself in many cases. The osteopathic approach is to jumpstart the body's own healing abilities in an effort to partially or completely correct the ailment.

"In the 1870's, Still attended to a young worker who gashed his knee with an ax. Three local physicians wanted to amputate the leg after infection set in. The family called Dr. Still who "…worked on the pelvis and thigh, and gently rotated and stretched the injured leg to relax the inflamed and contracted tissues. By morning the swelling had subsided and the boy was out of danger". 

The Falcon Clinic, located in Washington Mills, is one of the area's only osteopathic medical clinics. Chmielewski says that not all patients see the same results, be he said more often than not, patients see positive results with the use of little or no medicine. He's put together a three part series explaining exactly what Osteopathy is and this, the second of three parts, explains the origin. The second part of the slide presentation can be accessed here- Origins of Osteopathic Medicine - Part 2 8-4-20 .

Watch the interview on WIBX's Keeler Show below.