Musings of an Osteopath Part I

Musings of an Osteopath Part I

Chris Bates  M.Ost  DipAO  EEBW  BHSAI

Join me on a journey into my thoughts (not as disturbing as it sounds) about Osteopathy, medicine and the healing arts. This is part one of a series that I hope to make a regular feature.

As we delve into the world of Osteopathy, it is common to come across questions and barriers to our development. At times like these it is always useful to take a moment to reflect. 

Remember that a crisis is a call to action for change or an opportunity to learn. Let me assure you that reflection is a powerful tool especially when written down or shared with others. So, yes ok, this is helping me as much as it is you but hey, why miss the opportunity to develop myself too?

My early exposure to Osteopathy

My first experience of Osteopathy was seeing an equine Osteopath treating a horse at my college. After leaving school, I attended agricultural college to train for a national diploma in horse management and to complete my British Horse Society (BHS) qualifications. I intended to become a trainer and teacher and had a specialist interest in dressage.

During one semester in my second year, we had a day when equine practitioners of various disciplines visited the college to present their profession and answer our questions. The intention for this was to offer students a chance to learn about the different careers that their diploma may prepare them to move into (with further training of course). 

We had seen a Farrier, a Nutritionist, two Race Grooms, a Vet and several therapeutic practitioners and quite honestly, we were all getting rather tired as it was a long day of listening. 

So, one would have thought that by this point my brain was already saturated with information. It was, however, the Osteopath who was presenting last and she re-ignited my mind instantly. We first listened to the Osteopath explain to us what she does and give an introduction to what Osteopathy actually is. 

She exuded a sense of calm and composure even whilst remaining engaging and interesting. Over the years, I have come to realize that many of the best Osteopaths I know also exude this same calm. Some of the other students had already switched off from the long day but I was riveted to everything she had to say. I was deeply curious about her description of a “different paradigm” to health. 

After her talk in the classroom, we all moved to the stables where she demonstrated an Osteopathic examination and treatment on one of the college horses. Her way of explaining everything she was looking at and doing was complex but understandable. 

She had a way of making the confusing concepts seem easy to comprehend. As she said to me later however, “perhaps you were just ready to hear what I had to say and so grasped the Osteopathic view point”.

I was totally absorbed in her demonstration and full of questions. I had begun mentally connecting the dots about my own health struggles as a teenager with hypermobility and chronic pain. So many things that had once been a mystery to me were making sense, a truly “Eureka” moment. 

After her presentation, it was the end of the day at college and some practitioners had stayed to answer student questions. I think I completely monopolized the Osteopath for my questions but she was only too happy to speak with me. 

I said that I had to learn more and was very interested in becoming an Osteopath too. She described how at the time, the only way in was to become a human Osteopath first which here in the UK is a four-year Masters level education with over 1000 hours of clinical practice and is a statutorily regulated primary healthcare profession. 

Initially, my heart sank a little as I was only really interested in working with horses. I had set my sights and was sure that, eventually, I would get there. 

Taking the plunge into Osteopathy

It would actually be years before I took the plunge and became an Osteopath. At college, I did qualify as a riding instructor and I worked in many equestrian roles enjoying every second. I had a wonderful time building my experience and reputation in the horse industry. 

I did however eventually go for it and I completed my Integrated Master’s Degree in Osteopathic Medicine. I actually really enjoyed treating humans. I was asked back the same year I graduated to teach on the degree course. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching Osteopathic principles and techniques and running my own human clinic. 

During my career in the horse industry, I tried another therapeutic discipline and trained as an Equine Bodyworker. I had been treating horses as a bodyworker for almost 9 years by the time I became an Osteopath. But the bodyworker training lacked that Osteopathic process that had so sparked my interest. 

Once I had my Degree in Osteopathic Medicine, I went on to meet Professor Stuart McGregor and the rest as they say, is history. Now here I am, an Osteopath for people and animals, but I felt that there was a pathway missing for people who wanted to become animal Osteopaths without the tortuous route I took. 

LCAO fills that gap by offering education in animal Osteopathy without the requirement to be human trained first. I agreed with this intention and so began working for LCAO. 

The odd beginnings of the animal therapy industry

It would come as a surprise to you if you went to visit your local family doctor for a checkup and they also offered to check your dog over wouldn’t it? Perhaps there are some Doctors out there who are also Vets, but I would imagine they are very few and far between. 

Yet in the early days of animal therapy as an industry, dual practice was commonplace. When a new profession starts out, there have to be pioneers who create and innovate. Our very own Prof’ Stuart McGregor was the first Osteopath to write their dissertation on the application of Osteopathy to animals. 

In an industry where there are no courses in animal Osteopathy, the first practitioners had to be Human trained and then transfer their methods to animal patients. However, this strangely led to animal therapy courses being created that required human training. 

It would seem to me to be counterintuitive in some regards as would it not make more sense to commit more hours and effort into studying the actual animals you plan on becoming an expert in than the humans you may not wish to work with? 

Think of it this way, if a person has extensive time and experience with horses during their training, they may catch the signs that another person may miss. 

LCAO has created a pathway for people to train solely on animals should they wish to. As Osteopathy is a lens through which we view the patient, its principles and philosophy do not change just because of the type of creature we are seeing. Yes, this means there is a lot of crossover in the work with humans. 

As courses that were first developed were reserved for those with human therapy training, a bias and perhaps elitism evolved from this. Of course, being the first courses does not automatically denote quality over any others developed subsequently; however, there was some animosity growing in the industry. 

People who ran or graduated from the courses open only to human therapy trained practitioners began to feel angry that people were creating courses that did not require human training. Perhaps they felt protective over their vocation and were irritated that they had to go through a whole section of training that in reality wasn’t relevant in most cases. 

Word was often spread by the human trained practitioners that people graduating from these animal only courses were not sufficiently trained or were somehow lesser. Of course, this made no sense but unfortunately, animal owners were often sucked into this belief and would continue to spread the misinformation. 

Due to the division in the industry, many animal only trained practitioners found it tricky to get a foothold in their chosen career. Even some Vets were swayed by the misinformation from the Human trained practitioners and would only refer to them. 

Often, the best way to combat this type of thing is through proof and performance and not by simply reacting with argument. Courses for animal only practice developed with extensive input from industry leaders and researchers. 

Links were formed with universities and standards were created to rival the most robust human practice degrees. The courses spoke for themselves. As many of the courses for human trained students and their graduates had devoted much of their time to argument and disruption, the animal only courses and practitioners committed to self-development, industry progression, quality in practice and research. It was then that the human practitioner courses realized they were being left behind. 

I myself chose an animal only course in Equine Bodywork as my first step into animal therapy because that course is very high quality and high level. Those courses are even part of the professional training for the degree students at the university they use for course delivery. 

I had actually trained in human sports massage prior to this, and so I could have attended the human trained courses but chose the one with the highest standard of learning. 

Is Human training worth it? 

It would be disingenuous of me to pretend that human therapy training isn’t useful in some cases. In the equine world, human therapy training can be extremely useful as many of the issues that arise in horses can be a result of the rider. 

Being able to assess a rider and observe them in the saddle can provide vital information. Of course, then one can also treat the rider which provides a separate income stream and can help the owner/rider feel they are getting the “whole package”. 

However, it is highly recommended that equine therapists work closely with any trainers and instructors and this would mean rider assessment can be done by the instructor and then discussed with the therapist. This would be equally likely to make the rider feel they receive holistic service simply by the therapist communicating and networking well with other professionals. 

It is much less likely that the human will affect a dog directly with their posture for example, but consider the owners' activity levels and mobility. If the owner is struggling with their movement and some pain, they might not be providing the dog with adequate exercise and enrichment. This is a subject that can be discussed with the owner and perhaps a referral made for them to receive treatment. 

One could also argue that humans can give you verbal feedback on your manual techniques and help you to develop your palpation and treatment skills. This could provide a therapist with a clear understanding of where to put their focus in continued training. So it’s clear that one would be foolish to completely discount one form of training pathway for another simply due to allegiances for example. 

I would say that the main reason to consider human therapy training is if you wish to treat humans and you want to split your time. There is no necessity to do so though, and many of the world’s most highly regarded and busy animal therapists do not treat humans at all. It comes down to personal choice. Clients will choose you because they resonate with you, the key is finding your truth and living that. 

Final thoughts

I am an Osteopath for people and animals and I love both. I use a lot of knowledge I gained from human training in my animal work and in my teaching. However, I am beyond pleased that LCAO and other discipline colleges now offer animal only training. 

The important thing is that there should be choice. Animal welfare is supported thoroughly with either avenue of training. Should you wish to work only with dogs or small animals, I would personally argue there is little reason for you to train on people first. 

If you have an interest in rider biomechanics and equestrian sport, you can achieve much of the knowledge you need for that in continued professional development without having to undertake arduous human therapy training too. 

To decide, you need to look at what you actually want to do in clinical practice. If you enjoy working directly with people then training to treat them too can offer a nice split to your working week. 

LCAO is here to offer you quality animal Osteopathy training regardless of which route you wish to take. For more information on the International Diploma in Animal Osteopathy (Int’l DipAO), click here

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