By Chris Bates M.Ost DipAO
To the untrained eye, it can appear that osteopaths have some mystical ability to understand an animal and their condition simply by laying their hands upon them. But it's not magic — it's palpation. Palpation is the refined art of feeling and assessing the condition of an animal by touch. Osteopaths spend entire careers refining their sense of touch, though they will have developed a strong proficiency by the time they graduate. Palpation is one of the most important hallmarks of osteopathic practice, and often stands as a clear point of distinction from other professions.
What Does Osteopathic Palpation Actually Involve?
Feeling More Than You Might Think
To feel well — we need to understand that we are not just feeling one or two things. Palpation uses the entire range of touch receptors to assess. As well as feeling for the obvious lumps and bumps, we are feeling temperature, tissue texture, mobility of joints and tissues, elasticity, and asymmetry — essentially everything.
Palpation allows us to assess both the superficial and the deep. Osteopathic training gives practitioners the ability to sense the various tissues and their individual differences — from superficial palpation of the skin through to deep muscle and even viscera — allowing us to detect the state of the body as a unit.
A Practical Example: Palpating the Horse's Hip Joint
The different tissues of the animal's body have different properties, and when an osteopath palpates, they will detect these depending on where they are working and what tissues lie beneath their hand.
When palpating over the hip joint of a horse, for example, we can begin lightly and detect the temperature of the skin, the state of the coat, and any abnormalities such as dryness or damaged skin. Then we can feel the taut fascial connective tissue over the hip joint — quite different from other areas where fascia may be more mobile and elastic. There will be muscle and tendon tissue, each with different states of tension and elasticity. We can then palpate the joint borders and bone surfaces, including the synovial capsule and surrounding ligaments.
This all takes practice, of course, and osteopaths continue to refine this skill throughout their career.
How Does Palpation Work? The Science of Touch
Our hands are incredibly sensitive tools. Not only do we have remarkable dexterity, but the shape and structure of our hands and digits provides extraordinary perception and control. As our ancestors evolved and became less reliant on front limbs for locomotion, those limbs were freed for more advanced manipulation — a generalised specialism unlike anything seen in our ape cousins.
The Receptors Behind the Skill
The surfaces of our hands — particularly the fingers — are highly innervated with receptors that relay information to the spinal cord and brain:
- Mechanoreceptors detect pressure and movement
- Merkel cells provide perception of fine surface detail
- Pacinian corpuscles register vibration
These different receptor types send information via specific spinal tracts to the somatosensory cortex, where the brain processes this vast sensory data. Over time, these pathways become more refined. The more we use a skill, the better and more developed it becomes — and in osteopathy, palpation is fundamental to that development.
What About Reliability?
There are voices within the health and veterinary industries that question the reliability of palpation, often citing evidence of poor inter-practitioner reliability. However, this type of research fails to account for the development of skill over time and a practitioner's varied exposure to different tissue conditions. Of course there will be variation between practitioners — this reflects the uniqueness of individuals, not a fundamental flaw in the method.
Palpation is not claimed to be infallible, nor superior to all other assessment methods. The point is that it is free, improvable, instant, and capable of clarifying the full picture of the animal in front of us.
Why Does Palpation Matter for Animal Health?
Detecting Change Before Dysfunction Appears
Osteopaths can detect subtle changes that may occur before an animal begins to display overt signs of dysfunction — leading to improved welfare and more proactive health maintenance. Osteopathic concepts like the Involuntary Mechanism (IVM), often referred to as cranial osteopathy, use palpation continually to assess changes as they occur, requiring well-honed skills to interpret.
The underlying causes of a condition can often be addressed during routine maintenance. Many animal osteopaths recommend regular check-ups to monitor these types of changes. Because animals cannot verbally describe their feelings, developing a deeper ability to detect alterations creates a more profound understanding of the animal and their health state. By building a regular connection with your animal osteopath, they can more fully understand the animal's "normal" — and better detect when that balance has been disturbed.
Palpation as Part of a Wider Assessment
Palpation sits alongside the other assessment tools at our disposal. It is not enough on its own to form a thorough hypothesis, even in osteopathy. Active and passive assessments are vital for obtaining a holistic view — and during passive assessment, we are palpating the whole time too.
Sometimes the conclusions we move towards through observation and active assessment are contrary to what we perceive during palpation. This can create confusion, but it is a reminder that even these tools together do not provide the full picture. A thorough case history, communication with paraprofessionals, vets, and the owner are all essential. These often fill the gaps and clarify why we may palpate one thing but observe another.
Palpation During and After Treatment
One of the great advantages of developing strong palpation is the ability to reassess immediately after treatment. When we can perceive a tissue change once treatment has been applied, there is a strong likelihood it has had the desired effect. In fact, the real beauty of manual therapies as employed by osteopaths is that we can feel tissues react and change while treatment is taking place.
As my Osteopathy teachers would often say: "When you feel change, that's when to stop." It is very easy to overtreat an animal, and this can be just as damaging as leaving a dysfunction to perpetuate. Palpating well and sensing change in real time means we can apply only what intervention is needed to allow the body to adjust — then stop.
How to Improve Your Palpation Skills
Whether you are an animal osteopath, a different type of therapist, or a conscientious owner who wants to better connect with your animals, developing your palpation will be genuinely valuable. Here are the key pointers:
Learn the Anatomy
Understanding anatomy gives you a three-dimensional visualisation when you place your hands on the body. Professionals should always be reflecting on and updating their anatomy knowledge — but owners can benefit from this too. There are excellent books on equine and canine anatomy that make what can seem a daunting subject approachable. Contact LCAO to discuss our reading list. Speak with your vet when they visit. Practice labelling printed diagrams — or even your animals, if they are willing. Knowing muscle locations, joint structures, tendons, ligaments, and visceral positions makes you a far better perceiver of issues when they arise.
Palpate Different Animals
If you have access to a variety of animals, palpate them all — with permission — and feel the variations from species to species, breed to breed, and individual to individual. Try palpating the same area on two different horses: can you feel the differences in muscle development?
Practice Light, Medium, and Deep Pressure
By varying the level of your palpation, you will perceive different layers of tissue and densities. Start very lightly. Pressure should never blindly push through — it should be graduated and constantly responsive. Too much pressure can also alter how your receptors function, potentially numbing you to certain sensations.
Slow Down
Many people try to go too fast and miss a great deal. Imagine "melting" into the animal's tissues and visualising the anatomy as you go. Slow is not inefficient — it is comprehensive and good practice.
Monitor the Animal's Reactions
Palpation also includes the reactive behaviours shown when a certain area or depth is contacted. You may not feel a difference, but the animal might. Reading behaviour during palpation is an integral part of the osteopathic assessment process — particularly in dogs and other animals with complex emotional responses. Be aware that palpation is about reading the whole animal, not just the tissues.
Practice Pattern Recognition
Hold a handful of coins in your closed hand and try to differentiate them without looking. If you have the opportunity to palpate an injury or dysfunction, do so — it will help you recognise that sensation and that pattern in the future.
Get Supervision
If an experienced practitioner or osteopath can observe your technique and give feedback, this is invaluable. Compare what you feel to their conclusions, ask their opinions, observe how they approach palpation, and try to incorporate what you learn into your own style.
Conclusion
Learning palpation is a fundamental skill in animal osteopathy — and one that extends its value beyond the clinic. It teaches patience, awareness, mindfulness, and a commitment to self-improvement. Your hands are remarkable tools. Enhanced palpation skills may even help you better experience the world around you, or recognise changes in the health of those close to you.
Try out the pointers above and discover what your hands can tell you.
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