2019 Programme

The aim of this workshop is to present participants with opportunities to critically appraise their own diagnostic palpation procedures, including their accuracy and reliability, and to subsequently critically discuss and practice procedures largely focused on their perceptions.  Discussions and practice will be informed by relevant research in the field of neuroscience, particularly on multisensory integration, interoception and brain meditative states. Amongst those procedures, meditative music such as Native American traditional music will be proposed, highlighting a less known historical aspect of A.T. Still’s life, who may have been familiar with Native American healing traditions when he was living with his family among a Shawnee tribe in Kansas. It is anticipated that participants will develop a basic framework which will enable them to critically appreciate the value of using meditative states to improve their diagnostic palpatory capabilities.

 This workshop will allow participants to explore ways to use the palpation protocol in different contexts -clinical, research, or teaching- to link the teaching of palpation to analytical as well as non-analytic reasoning processes, and to connect palpatory findings to recent researches on interoception, chronic pain and allostasis.

Moderator: Jorge Esteves 

• “Cerebral perfusion changes after osteopathic manipulative treatment in asymptomatic volunteers: a randomized manual placebo-controlled trial” Marco Tramontano
• “Tissue allostasis, how to measure change: the use of the durometer in osteopathic clinical practice” Andrea Buscemi
• “Effects of osteopathic treatment on somatosensory deficit in the elderly: a randomized controlled trial” Anaëlle Reulet
• “What makes an osteopathic treatment “effective” in patients’ perspective: a descriptive phenomenological study”Giacomo Consorti
• “A New Perspective for Somatic Dysfunction in Osteopathy: the Variability Model” Andrea Bregna

One important shared vision of osteopathic principles among osteopathic professionals is the link between structure and function. Advances in neuroscience, behavioural therapy, imaging and 3D analysis has changed the way we perceive and understand these links in biomechanics. This workshop will develop the concept of applied integrated biomechanics. 

The workshop will explore the effects of verbal interventions like placebo communication and cognitive reassurance on patients’ stress reactions and its potential impact on decreasing allostatic load. The session will include exploration of the evidence supporting these interventions and practical activities about strategies for developing confidence and trust with patients which can be integrated routine clinical osteopathic practice.

Osteopaths have developed traditional skills and knowledge appreciated by patients but not always recognised by the osteopaths themselves. Education and research often focus on osteopathic manipulative treatment itself without always acknowledging other important components of care. Advances in research however suggests that an important part of benefits from osteopathic care can arise from movement in the absence of pain, enhancing self-confidence, positive reinforcement, and increasing awareness. This workshop aims to explore some of these principles and open the discussion on how best to integrate and explore them in clinical practice and research. 

Due to inadequate formalization of osteopathic performance requirements and lack of precise concepts, terms and standards, some problems emerged when osteopathy is integrated into the healthcare system. It is necessary to have a precise definition and methodology of osteopathy, to study somatic dysfunction as a specific object of research and treatment and to develop a standard form of osteopathic assessment. In order to standardize the process of osteopathic diagnosis and formalize the osteopathic assessment, we have expanded and deepened the definition of the term «somatic dysfunction». The workshop will explore these elements within a critical and up-to-date view.

Contents in progress