Osteopathy Principles and Practice v1 (Proby) PDF
Osteopathy Principles and Practice v1 (Proby) PDF
Osteopathy Principles and Practice v1 (Proby) PDF
OSTEOPATHY:
PRINCIPLES AND P R A C T I C E
Volume 1
J O C E L Y N PROBY
JOCELYN PROBY
Published by
The Institute o f Classical Osteopathy
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CONTENTS
Page No:
Dedication
Introduction
R J White
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Essay on Osteopathy
17
Sacro-Iliace Propositions
46
Theory of Osteopathy
57
75
101
US
117
Obituary
122
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INTRODUCTION
"One hopes that developments and changes of fashion are the results
of more enlightenment, knowledge and skill, but one fears that often
they are not - change is not necessarily the same as progress"
Jocelyn Proby
Jocelyn Proby was one the great figures in osteopathy. A man of brilliant intellect, he graduated from Magdalene College Oxford and then
went to the University of Toronto as a history don. While in Canada
he became interested in osteopathy. A move to Kirksville followed
and he added to his already impressive list of qualifications with a
D.O.. He then returned to Canada and worked with Daniel Mackinnon
and at this time became interested in the ideas of Henry Lindlahr, the
two major influences on his work and thinking. With characteristic
energy he later wrote several articles describing and advocating the
use of Mackinnon's technique as well as editing and revising Lindlahr's four volumes on Natural Therapeutics. At the age of 62 when
most people would be contemplating a comfortable retirement he was
still intent on expanding his knowledge and organised a course of instruction in "Structural Integration", under the personal tuition of Ida
Rolf, which he successfully completed.
However, Jocelyn Proby was much more than a brilliant mind. Those
that knew him well, patients and colleagues alike, have many stories
of his kindness and compassion. It was not uncommon for him to keep
seriously ill patients at his home at Ballyraine House in Arklow, treating and nursing them himself. During one exceptionally difficult winter he daily drove several miles through deep snow in order to treat a
seriously ill child, eventually restoring the child to health with a rare
blend of exceptional skill and devoted care.
These stories give an important insight into his views on the scope of
osteopathic treatment. Along with J.M, Litllejohn, John Wernham and
others of that generation he believed that osteopathic treatment could
be beneficial in a wide range of conditions, not merely for neuro8
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R J White
Asterley Hall
Aster ley
August 1999
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Before we consider in more detail the proper use of the words "science"
and "scientific" in connection with the arts of healing, I think that it is
necessary to draw attention to the fact that they are very often used in a
most improper way. In common speech and in controversies in the
newspapers and elsewhere, people very often say that a thing is
"scientific" when they simply mean that they think it is true or sound
or desirable or that it works well. Conversely, they say that it is
unscientific when they do not believe in it or like it. Any one who has
studied history knows that in certain past ages it was the fashion to
conduct all controversy on the basis of religion or of scripture. If you
wanted to make a point or clinch an argument you made quotations
from the Bible and tried to show that your point of view was based on
sound religion. That fashion has, for good or evil, altogether changed,
and what we all want to do now is to show that we are "scientific".
Sometimes we just simply state that we are "scientific" and hope that it
will be accepted; sometimes we go further and elaborate scientific
arguments to support our point of view.
As an illustration of the change which has taken place in the last two
or three hundred years, it can be noted that the institution of negro
slavery was seriously defended in the eighteenth century on the ground
that negroes were the descendants of Ham who were intended by God
to serve the descendants of Shem or Japheth, In the present century the
Germans wished to dominate and enslave other peoples and to exterminate the Jews. The justification which, they gave to themselves and to
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the world for their ideas and behaviour, was couched in scientific
rather than religious terms. They even invented a pseudo-science in
which Nordic master races were contrasted with other races which
were regarded as being inferior and fitted only to serve the Nordics, i f
not to be exterminated altogether. These are, of course, extreme
instances, but they show the dangers which may arise from using such
words as "scientific" to support arguments or policies, which, even i f
they are sound or desirable, have nothing about them which can rightly
be described as "scientific"
Technical language or jargon?
Another use of the word "scientific" which is misleading but which is
very common, is when it simply means that the particular thing is
expressed or can be expressed in language which is regarded as
"scientific". Every branch of knowledge has acquired a technical
language. This is on the whole a good thing, because it enables the
subject to be written about or discussed with more precision by those
who are engaged in the study of it- Technical language, however, has
its dangers, because rt enables people to hide their ignorance, even
sometimes from themselves, and to deceive and impose upon the laity,
and particularly upon the uneducated Laity. 1 fear that technical or
scientific language is very often used in this way, especially perhaps by
doctors. Thus i f I say, " I perform an appendectomy", it sounds much
more "scientific" than if I say, " I cut out a portion of someone's guts";
but it is not necessarily any different. The only things which can
determine whether an appendectomy is scientific or not is either the
way in which it is done or the circumstances in which you do it or
abstain from doing it. Merely to call a thing by a scientific or technical
name does not either justify it or condemn it, nor does it render it
"scientific" or "unscientific" in any sense in which the words have real
meaning. This is perhaps very obvious, but it needs to be remembered
and pointed out, for many practices or otherwise, are accepted, even by
people who should know better, because they are expressed in technical
or scientific jargon. The fact is that both error and truth can be
expressed in scientific language, though a great many modem scientists (and doctors) seem to think that superstition and error are things
which existed ui the past but which suddenly came to an end when
"science" freed itself from the trammels of priest hoods and theologies.
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It is becoming very obvious now that this is not so. It is, for instance,
the fashion for doctors to laugh at the practices and ideas of physicians
of the seventeenth century and earlier periods, but not to realise that
many modern medical practices may seem just as crude and barbarous
to some more enlightened generation in time to come. Truth and
wisdom emerge, when they do so, painfully and slowly; superstition,
which results from fear ignorance and greed, is not the monopoly of
any particular age, and it may be expressed in "scientific" terms quite
as readily as in religious terms. Conversely, wisdom, tnith and
knowledge may be expressed in terms which are not scientific or which
are not considered so at the moment- Many examples could be given,
but it is perhaps enough to remind ourselves that there was once
compulsory baptism but that now we have compulsory vaccination
instead. 1 suppose each man must decide for himself whether the
change has been an improvement, which of the two practices is the
more "scientific" or which of them is the more superstitiousHaving thus dealt briefly with uses of the words "science" and
"scientific" which are intentionally or unintentionally misleading, we
can go on to consider the senses in which they are used legitimately.
We can say that a thing is "scientific" because it is done in a way which
has been proved by experience and experiment to be the best, safest and
most satisfactory way of doing it in the light of the accumulated
knowledge which is available to us. Thus there are scientific and
unscientific ways of doing the same thing, such as performing a
surgical operation or administering a drug. It should be noted that i f a
thing is to be done it is obviously best to do it "scientifically" i f we
know how. However, we should beware lest we call traditionalism and
conservatism being scientific, and we should avoid thinking that to do
a thing "scientifically" is enough. To be truly scientific we must do it
for scientific reasons as well as do it scientifically. It is quite possible
to do a very unscientific thing scientifically, and vice versa.
Universal taw
This brings us to another meaning of the word "scientific" which is, 1
think, its most important and, so to speak, its most real meaning. All
science is based on the idea that we live in a universe which is
governed and proceeds according to Law. I f we did not believe this it
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Osteopathy is Scientific
If we can obtain a clear idea in our own minds what we mean by the
words "science" and "scientific" it should be a great help to us in
thinking intelligently about the healing arts in general and Osteopathy
in particular, for we shall be in a better position to make up our minds
which forms of treatment and which individuals and which schools of
thought can claim to be "scientific" and which are merely empirical,
however respectable or even good that empiricism may be.
We can, f think, claim with justice that Osteopathy is essentially
scientific in both the senses in which the word can be properly used.
Manipulation and other forms of manual healing are undoubtedly very
old, but in our osteopathic technique we have sought to systematise and
build up a tradition of manipulation and to correlate what we do with
what is known of anatomy, physiology, pathology, mechancis and other
sciences. We can claim to do manipulation "scientifically" just as a
qualified surgeon can claim to do a surgical operation "scientifically".
This does not, of course, mean that we may not and should not look for
improvements and enlargements in the technique of Osteopathy, It is
to be hoped that as time goes on we may be able to do much of our work
more quickly and more easily than we do at present, and that we may
be able to attempt and perform things which are now beyond our
powers. We have, however, already laid a foundation and can say with
truth that we have begun to build up a science of manipulative
technique.
But Osteopathy can also claim to be scientific in the more important
sense that it is based on a general principle and thai its technique is, or
should be, applied in conformity with that principle. The principle is
that the human body is a mechanism in which structure and function
are correlated to one another, so that any departure from the normal, in
structure or mechanics is a potential cause of disease or dysfunction in
some of the organs or parts of the body. When structural and
mechanical defects are not the only or the direct cause of disease they
are very frequently a means by which the natural curative forces of the
body are prevented from operating. There are, therefore, very few
diseases or conditions in the treatment of which Osteopathy cannot
play a useful part. Because we have discovered one of the great
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principles on which health depends, namely, perfection of body structure and mechanics, we can claim to be treating disease scientifically
when we seek to make body structure and mechanic as perfect as
possible.
Other Treatments
But i f Osteopathy can rightly claim to be scientific, both in its basic
principle and in its technique, what can be said of orthodox medical
treatment? This is not an easy question to answer. There are a great
many techniques and treatments in common use by doctors which are
highly scientific in the sense that they are the result of a great deal of
thought and experiment and are carried out in a way which accumulated knowledge has shown to be best. On the other hand, it is very
difficult to find any general principle of any kind upon which ordinary
medical practice is based. (This does not apply to the homoeopaths who
do administer drugs in accordance with a definite law or principle.)
Fundamentally, it would seem that nearly all treatments which are in
common use today are empirical and symptomatic, although the empiricism is based on a very considerable knowledge of many sciences.
No doubt a large measure of empiricism is inevitable at the present
stage of our knowledge, but we should not deceive ourselves into
thinking that things which are empirical are scientific, and we should
always be searching to discover more about the basic principles on
which health and disease depend and to base our treatment on those
principles. Only in proportion as we discover basic principles can we
hope to build up a genuine science of medicine. Hie thing which
makes agreement and co-operation so difficult between osteopaths and
members of the orthodox medical profession is that so few of the latter
seem even to see the desirability of discovering and applying fundamental principles, although our knowledge of many subsidiary sciences
has now reached a point where it should be possible to lay the
foundations of a science of medicine or, to put it another way, a science
of health. We osteopaths are very certain that in our osteopathic
principles and technique we have the beginning of, and a very important part of, a real science of medicine, though we must recognise and
expect that other basic principles will be enunciated on which other
techniques of treatment will be built up. There are signs that this is
already beginning to happen as the result of the work of pioneers both
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ESSAY ON OSTEOPATHY
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able way if the normal position and mobility of the bones were restored.
This he found could be done by means of passive movements and the
application of leverages and force in suitable ways. He next turned his
attention to the soft tissues and found that another accompaniment of
pathology was an abnormal condition of muscles and ligaments. These
would sometimes be contracted and over-rigid and sometimes relaxed
and deficient in (one. Usually such abnormalities were found in
conjunction with the other abnormalities which he had noticed in the
bony structures, and it was clear that the two were connected. I f the
bones became abnormal in position and mobility the soft tissues
connected with them showed changes; on the other hand the bones
were more prone to become abnormal if the soft tissues on which they
depended for support and mobility were in an abnormal state. It was,
however, possible in many cases to restore the soft tissues to their
normal state by kneading, pressure and manipulation. In some cases it
proved to be more important to work thus on the soft tissues than to
deal exclusively with the bones, but in other cases the real source of the
trouble seemed to be in the bones and joints and the soft tissues soon
returned to normal of themselves once the natural position and mobility
of the bones had been restored. Here was a pathological state in which
both bones and soft tissues were involved, but in which sometimes one
and sometimes the other was of primary importance ,
1
It has been well said thai Ihe object of osteopathic technique is the diminution of abnormal
lension wherever ilean befoundin the body
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1.
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4.
Some abnormality in the feeling of the soft tissues on palpation. In the acute stage the tissues are usually contracted,
though this fact is masked by a superficial oedema; Later there
is a tendency for them to become more and more fibrotic.
5.
2.
3.
4.
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6.
Changes in the in ler vertebra I disks, which lose their shape and
elasticity and show degenerative changes in various degrees.
It would, however, be rash to take the view that there are no cases in
which structural abnormalities produce malfunction and disease in a
very direct manner. Every student of physiology is aware of the
important functions performed by the normal movements of the diaphragm in the maintenance of health and of proper functioning of
important abdominal and thoracic organs. Malposition and loss of
flexibility of the bones forming the thorax is one of the most frequent
causes of bad breathing and failure of the diaphragm to function as it
should. Here is an example of a very direct way in which osteopathic
lesions can affect the function of the most important organs of the
body, such as heart, lungs, liver and intestines. Macdonald and Wilson
in their book The Osteopathic Lesion have drawn attention to the fact
that the vascular symptoms sometimes found in cases of cervical rib are
hardly explainable except on the ground of direct pressure on sympathetic nerves and that such symptoms can often be abated by manipulative measures. Again, it seems quite possible that severe subluxations
of the atlas and other upper cervical vertebrae and the accompanying
muscle tensions can produce actual interference with the blood flow to
and from the brain. It is true that the existence of vasomotor fibres to
the blood vessels of the brain has now been demonstrated and that the
ganglia in which they originate are in very close relation to the cervical
and upper dorsal vertebrae, but it is doubtful whether these feds alone
can always explain the spectacular results sometimes produced in grave
mental conditions by correction of osteopathic lesions in the upper
cervical area. The vertebral arteries and veins are in particularly close
relation to the upper cervical vertebrae, and in fact pass through
foramina in their transverse processes, and it seems therefore quite
reasonable to contend that subluxations of the upper cervical vertebrae
can produce a direct interference with the blood supply to parts of the
brain. Instances of direct mechanical interference can be multiplied,
but when all is said and done they are only capable of explaining a
proportion of the effects produced by some osteopathic lesions.
1
See Case Report by Dr. Ray M Russell, British Osteopathic Review, November.
193d; also case mentioned by A . I Sttt], Autobiography, p. 107.
'Oedema,fibrosisand muscle tension in varying degrees are the accompaniments of all
osteopathic lesions. These, no doubt, exert some mechanical influence on nerves and blood
vessels, but it cannot be said with any certainty to what extent this interferes with their
functions.
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(2)
Let us consider first the primary lesions. It has always been the view of
osteopaths that a great proportion of disease and ill-health is traumatic
or postural in origin, although this may not be apparent to the patient
himself or to physicians who are unfamiliar with osteopathic thought
and diagnosis. The diversity of man's occupations and activities, and
the fact that he is not perhaps adjusted as completely as he might be to
the erect posture, render him very Liable to strains and injuries affecting
the framework of the body. Injuries may soon be forgotten and faults of
posture may pass unnoticed, but they are capable of starting a chain of
causes which can lead eventually to serious malfunctions and even to
organic disease. The reason for this is that an uncorrected osteopathic
Lesion tends to be cumulative in its effects. The malfunctions which it
produces in viscera, glands, muscles and other organs not only injure
the body as a whole, but by vicious reflexes help to maintain and make
worse the very lesion which causes them. Also a lesion in one part of
the bony framework frequently produces secondary lesions elsewhere,
which in turn have their til effects. Vicious circles are thus produced
For further discussion of Hit contra-indications lo manipulative treatment see bclnw.
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[l appears Thai [he term 'Manipulative Surgery was first used by Sir Herbert Barker to
describe ihe particular type of manipulative technique of which he was the exponent
Subsequently the expression was adopted by many orthopaedic surgeons who made a study
of manipulation 01 who acquired knowledge of il from unorthodox sources.
II was pointed out by Dr. Kelman Macdonald in his evidence before the Select committee
of ihe House of Lords (1935) lhat the medical profession have to some extent-accepted andstudied manipulative surgery , but that so far the possibilities of manipulative medicine have
not been explored except by Ihe osteopaths.
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organ or pari of the body is acutely diseased reflexes are initiated in it,
which produce rigidity in the related spinal area and eventually give
rise to osteopathic lesions. These lesions tend in turn to affect the blood
and nerve supply to the diseased part, and also to related segments of
the spinal cord which are already fatigued and affected by toxaemia.
Osteopathic treatment normalises the spinal tissues and enables the
patient to make a more vigorous and effective response to the local
inflammation: circulation and drainage are aided and abnormal reflexes are reduced or eliminated,
1
But apart from the local manifestations of acute disease there are also
systemic reactions, which often require to be aided or controlled. All
acute disease is accompanied with more or less toxaemia, which tends
to produce fever, to throw a strain on the heart and lungs, and to make
special demands on the eliminative organs. Manipulative treatment
properly applied can aid the body in all these respects and help to
prevent the appearance of complications. Such treatment is mostly
directed to the spinal areas related to the heart, lungs, kidneys and
bowels, and to restoring the normal mobility of the thorax. In addition,
it is possible by manipulation of the cervical area to influence the
temperature regulating centres, to promote skin elimination in a
natural way, and so to control temperature to a considerable extent.
There are also a number of special procedures which have proved of
great value in certain cases. Among these are the so-called 'lymphatic
pump' treatment for aiding the flow of lymph towards the heart by
rhythmic compressions of the thorax, treatments for the stimulation of
such organs as the liver and spleen, and manipulation of the abdomen
to promote bowel action and peristalsis. Although oid and recent
osteopathic lesions are corrected when possible, the type of osteopathic
1
The lymphatic pump treatment is usually administered in the following way. The
operator stands behind and above the patient who is lying on bis back. The openilor places ho
outstretched hands, palms downwards, just below the patient's clavicles on each side. He then
alternately depresses and relaxes the thoracic wall in a rhyuuntcol manner at therateof about
one hundred and twenty limes to the minute. The procedure can be continued for five or ten
minutes at a time.
It need hardly be mentioned that manipulation of the abdomen should not be used in
acute inflammatory conditions of the abdominal organs.
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The body has a certain power of replacing cells which have been destroyed, with the
exception of the cells of [he central nervous sysiem and the sympathetic ganglia. It seems to
be a law of nature that Ihe more specialised a cell is, the harder it is for it to be regenerated or
replaced
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extent osteopaths in their outlook and methods, but they will not all be
specialists in manipulation. For already there are other schools of
healing and methods of treatment the principles of which in no way
conflict with Stills fundamental principles and which are naturally
complementary to osteopathy, and as time goes on more such methods
will doubtless be discovered. These methods, many of which are still in
their infancy, will in the future be more and more combined with
osteopathy, will assist it, render it more complete and perhaps in some
cases supersede it or make it unnecessaryIt must be remembered that osteopathy is based on two fundamental
principles, namely, the natural self-sufficiency of the human body and
the unity of sn^cture and function. It may be predicted that in time to
come the first of these principles will be seen to be even more
important than the second, and it is this first principle which renders it
impossible and undesirable for genuine osteopaths, however openminded they may be, to combine with, or allow themselves to be
absorbed by, the orthodox medical profession. For although the medical profession sometimes pays lip service to this principle, all but a few
of its members deny it in practice by using methods and having an
outlook which are incompatible with it. Thus, while osteopaths should
welcome the wider use of manipulative methods by the medical
profession and should be ready to assist in the wider teaching of such
methods, they should be in no hurry to sacrifice their separate professional existence and their control over their own system of education.
There is a real danger that osteopaths may be tempted, by the desire to
improve their legal position and widen their sphere of activity, to
sacrifice some part of the fundamental principles on which their system
was founded and has thrived hitherto. In the view of the writer this
would be both foolish and wrong.
Apart, however, from such reasons based on policy and principle for
the maintenance of a separate osteopathic profession at the present
time, there are others of a practical kind which cannot be ignored.
Osteopathic technique is not an art which can be easily or quickly
leamt even by those who have a natural aptitude for it, and once it has
been learnt it requires practice and wide experience to apply it to the
best advantage. The poorly trained manipulator is either dangerous or
ineffective, and the decline of osteopathy is inevitable i f it becomes a
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There arc. without doubt, oilier 'angles', besides ihe mechario-structural and ihe chemical,
from which The problem of disease can profitably be approached. One of these is ihe vibratory
or electronic. This will become increasingly important &s electronic methods oT diagnosis and
treatment become better developed and belter understood
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'Another view is very ably putforwardin Hutett's Principles of Osteopathy (A. T\ Still
Research institute, 1922}, particularly chap, vii. It is here pointed cut that though disease
may become manifest hi the cell it cannot really originate there. The ceil is naturally
self-regulating and only goes wrong in its action if there is something wrong with its blood
and nerve supply. It is structural perversions involving the supporting tissues of the body
which are The commonest and most powerful factors producing derangements of blood and
nerve supply. It is argued thai these supporting tissues (connective tissues and especially
bones and ligaments) are much less capable of sdf-adjusrment than other tissues because they
arc not predominantly protoplasmic, but consist very largely of passive intercellular substance. If, therefore, the physician is in a position lo normalise the supporting tissues of the
body. Nature will da the rest.
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SACRO-IL1AC PROPOSITIONS
I must begin with a word of explanation. When the first number of our
Institute Year Book was published in 1956, there was included in it a
short article by me about the Mackinnon technique, in which I tried to
say in the simplest possible way how this technique is carried out. I
promised that I would try at a later date to amplify what I said in that
article and to discuss in a general way my theory and practice with
regard to sacro-iliacs* This paper is an attempt to redeem that promise.
I present what 1 have to say today with some trepidation and with all
modesty because it has been borne in on me during the years, and
particularly since I have been attending the meetings of this Institute
that my theories and my practice about the sacroiliacs differ very
considerably from those which are generally accepted and used in the
profession, so much so that 1 myself find them very hard to reconcile
with what is said and written and done by persons for whom 1 have the
greatest respect and whom I regard as being in a general way more
knowledgeable and better practitioners than myself 1 hope very much
that what I say today and the discussion which may follow it will serve
to throw some light on the whole problem, add something to our
understanding of it and perhaps show that our different approaches and
points of view are not in fact as irreconcilable as they might at first
appear to be. That they do appear at first sight to be irreconcilable was
brought home to me in an interesting and amusing way. One of our
eminent colleagues, whose name I wilt not mention, was asked to allow
one of his lectures to be printed in our 1957 Year Book. He finally
refused to do so be cause he considered that it would lower his prestige
to be a contributor to so undesirable a publication, and one of the
reasons which he gave for his disapproval was that Mr. Jackson and
myself had produced articles which were so irreconcilable that we
could not both of us be right and that at least one of us must be talking
nonsense and misleading those searching in our pages for knowledge
and enlightenment. On the other hand, 1 have received thanks and
commendation for my descriptions of the Mackinnon technique from
places as far distant from each other as Hawaii, Chicago, Paris,
England and Scotland, so I feel that my little article may not have been
without some practical value to some people. The fact of the matter is
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(hat J believe that J have developed a method of sacro-iliac management which is of real value in a field in which there is a lot of
confusion and a lot of unsatisfactory practice both here and in America.
I suppose that we all tend to see the failures of our colleagues and 1 am
very certain that 1 have more failures than 1 like, but 1 also know thai
the methods which I employ based on my ideas about (he sacro-iliacs
have enabled me to give relief in a rather spectacular way in cases in
which others, whom 1 genuinely respect, have failed. My theory and
practice is based on what was taught me years ago by the late Mr,
Daniel Mackinnon with whom I worked for a time in Canada, with
certain additions and modifications of my own. Mackinnon, I may add.
was not himself trained in one of the recognised osteopathic colleges
and was indeed inclined to be somewhat contemptuous of them, largely
because he saw so many cases in which the osteopathy of the osteopaths
had failed, particularly in the field of the low back. I have given the
title of'Sacro-iliac Propositions to this paper because I believe that the
best way I can explain to you what 1 think and do is to put forward
certain propositions or postulates and then develop them and discuss
them.
1
PROPOSITION I .
That the sacroiliacs are unique in importance
It may be possible but it is not easy to exaggerate the importance of
these joints from an osteopathic point of view. It is on the proper
positioning and functioning of the two sacro-iliacs that the integrity of
the pelvic girdle really depends, and the influence which they exert on
the mechanics of the body as a whole is very profound. When there is
something wrong with the sacro-iliacs the body is being disturbed both
mechanically and n euro logically, especially in the erect posture and
during locomotion though in some cases there is good compensation to
this disturbance and in some cases there is not. In practice it appears
that the correction of the sacro-iliacs is a sort of key which, as it were,
unlocks things both above and below. It is hardly necessary for me to
enlarge here on the mechanical results of sacro-iliac Lesions except to
say that they arise mainly from the effects, which they produce, on the
relative length of the two extremities and to the sacral foundation of Ihe
spinal column. I woul, however, like to emphasise that the ill effects of
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PROPOSITION 2,
That the sacro-iiiacs are unique in their character and function
It is something of a commonplace that the sacro-iliacs are unusual both
anatomically and physiologically by comparison with other joints in the
body. The only other joint which is in some ways similar is, perhaps,
the acromioclavicular joint. For a long time it was believed by
anatomists that the sacro-iliac joint did not move and I have heard it
stated, on the basis of post mortem studies, that a large proportion of
sacroiliac joints in persons of both sexes become fused and immovable
after a certain age; a thing which, I confess, I find difficult to believe.
It does, however, appear that these joints are peculiar in not having
muscles to move and support them in the usual way, and depend for
their strength and integrity on powerful ligaments. As to the function
of the sacroiliacs there has, I feel, been more controversy than
enlightenment I hope that you will all read the very interesting paper
by our colleague, Mr. Wardell, on the subject of pelvic mechanics
which is being published in the O.A.G.B. proceedings. I have derived
comfort from the fact that this paper appears to confirm the kind of
view which I have long held about the function and normal behaviour
of the sacroiliac joint. I believe it to be a shock-absorber rather than a
joint in the usually accepted sense of the term and its action is or
should be a rocking within the very limited range which the "L" shaped
configuration of the joint, and the pull under load of the very powerful
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PROPOSITION 3
For practical purposes the number of
sacro-iliac lesions can be reduced to two
If I am asked how many sacro-iliac lesions there are, 1 am tempted to
reply in the words of the Church Catechism," Two only as generally
necessary to salvation.* I am prepared to concede that there may
theoretically be subdivisions of the two kinds, depending, probably, on
which of the arms of the joint surface is principally involved- It is of
course possible to have twists and tilts of the sacrum in addition to
lesions of one or both of the two ilia on the sacrum. 1 believe, however,
that these are generally best dealt with by first adjusting the sacro-iliacs
and then following up by dealing with the lumbo-sacral joint. Also
Mackinnon, and others, have spoken of certain other rare lesions which
are sometimes found and one of which Mackinnon believed to be
associated with inguinal hernia. 1 believe that these atypical lesions are
sometimes found and my experience leads me to think that the most
important of them is a condition in which one or both of the ilia are
pushed forward or back on the sacrum without there being any rotation
or any change in the length of the extremity. However, in the great
majority of cases we have to deal with one of the two lesions which 1
like to call "short-leg lesion" and "long-leg lesion". I prefer to use
these simple terms to get away from the confusion which appears to
have arisen from differences and changes in nomenclature. I believe
that 1 am right in saying that the short-leg lesion (which raises the
acetabulum) has also been called "posterior" and "up-anterior," The
long-leg lesion (which lowers the acetabulum) has been called
anterior" and *up-posterior". Mackinnon called the short leg lesion
"anterior-inferior" because he believed, rightly or wrongly, that it
caused the posterior superior spine of the ilium to move in a downward
and forward direction. The long-leg lesion he called "posteriorsuperior" because he believed that it caused the posterior superior spine
to move upwards and towards the spine. 1 do not want to argue about
1
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these nomenclatures and the points which arise from them. 1 believe,
however, that it will be generally conceded that there is one typical
Lesion which shortens the leg and another which lengthens it. According to Mackinnon's theory, and I agree with him, it is possible to have
any combination of these lesions as between the two sides; that is to say
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you can have a lesion of either kind on one side only, you can have a
short-leg Lesion on one side and a long-leg Lesion on the other, or you
can have the same lesion on both sides, in the same or different
amounts or degrees. In some of the cases in which both sides are
involved it could he argued that the Lesion is one of the sacrum, but
though this may be so, it does not appear to make much practical
difference because i f both ilia can he correctly positioned on the
sacrum, it amounts to the same thing as positioning the sacrum
correctly between the ilia, 1 will add that in my experience J have
found the short leg lesion to be enormously more common than the
long leg lesion, although in some cases the pain and symptoms are
referred to the opposite side, thus giving to the unwary the impression
that there is a long Leg Lesion on that other side.
This is perhaps the moment at which I should say something about the
real, primary or anatomical short leg. In spite of all the evidence to the
contrary I find it impossible to believe that such short Legs of significant amount exist in such enormous numbers as it is now the fashion to
maintain. I have seen so many cases in which real short legs have been
diagnosed by most competent osteopaths and yet have seemed to
disappear when the pelvis has been dealt with by the methods which 1
believe to be right. 1 suspect that, in some cases at least, even the
carefully taken standing X-ray can be misleading, I do not of course
deny that real short legs do exist and, when they do, 1 am not opposed
to the use of heel lifts of suitable amounts. There is, however, one point
which I should like to emphasise. Even i f one is convinced that there
is a real discrepancy in the two extremities, it does not excuse one from
making an accurate adjustment of both sacro-iliacs. They should be
corrected and maintained in correcion even in the presence of a short
leg and whether or not a heel lift is used; indeed one of the most
important functions which a heel lift can perform is to assist in the
maintenance of a normal condition of the sacro-iliacs. 1 would also
make a plea for the very careful correction of the sacro-iliacs immediately before a standing X-ray is taken for diagnostic purposes, because
1 believe, though I cannot actually prove it, that the presence of
sacro-iliac lesions can be a source of error in such X-rays.
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PROPOSITION 4.
The sacro-iliacs should be diagnosed and treated on a
positional rather than a functional basis
The important thing in dealing with sacro-iliacs is to make sure that
positioning is right on both sides. Fundamentally a pelvis is either
right or wrong, and the smallest possible wrongness can give symptoms, often of a very serious nature, especially when the pelvis is one
which has been in trouble before, i have known many instances of
cases which have been treated with success and have remained symptom free for a long period, until some incident occurred which produced a slight sacro-iliac lesion. In a very short time the whole of the
old symptom picture began to reappear, even though the amount or
severity of the lesion was apparently very small and was certainly much
less than it was in the old days. In the course of treatment of an acute
case, too, one can have the most violent and discouraging relapse,
which is simply due to a slight recurrence of the sacro-iliac trouble, and
which can be aborted by a speedy correction. 1 learnt when I was
working with Mackinnon that I must never speak of a sacroiliac as
being "a little better" or "not so bad as last time" or *pretty good now".
He was only interested in knowing whether it was right or wrong and
to suggest that there were degrees of lightness and wrongness was to
arouse him to the same sort of fury which I have seen exhibited by Mr.
Wernham when someone suggested to him that something was not an
osteopathic case. I would here say that a great deal of the difficulty
which is experienced with sacro-iliacs is due to the failure to look
carefully enough at the sacro-iliac on the opposite side to the one which
is clearly the worst and most important of the two in the particular
case. Frequently there is a small lesion on the other side which must be
corrected too i f the integrity of the pelvic ring is to be restored and
maintained.
l
I will now make a point which I fear will get me into serious trouble,
but I must make it in the interests of what I believe to be true. The
testing of sacro-iliacs on the basis of their moveability and function is
an operation which, in my opinion, is Largely futile. When I have been
associated with clinics 1 havefrequentlyseen in the diagnostic notes on
the case sheets such phrases as "sacro-iliacs rigid ' or "sacro-iliacs
fixed" or " sacro-iliacs locked". Frankly I do not quite know what this
1
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PROPOSITION 5
Maintenance rather than correction is the difficult
problem in Sacro-iliac management
1 have tried to indicate that, although the correction of sacro-iliacs
requires skill and accuracy it does not require the use of force except
possibly in a few exceptional cases. The maintenance of corrections
does however present very great difficulties in a large number of cases.
There is very little doubt that the sacro-iliac joints, at least in our
modern society, are highly vulnerable. When a patient comes in for the
first time it is the exception rather than the rule to find the sacro-iliacs
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T H E T H E O R Y O F OSTEOPATHY
Yet when all is said and done I find that I cannot quite accept
Osteopathy in the simple form in which it was enunciated by Dr. Still.
In the first place 1 do not think that it can ever be right to seek to
eliminate chemical medicine altogether, even though we may feel that
a great deal of what goes under the name of chemical medicine is
extremely bad, as it certainly was then and, in my opinion, still is
today. We can hardly escape from the conclusion that great cjvilisa60
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Perhaps we can sum up by saying thai Dr. Still is the greatest and most
Rind amenta J of the exponents of an Unitary concept of disease and
treatment. There have been others who have had Unitary concepts,
some of which are so narrow as to be ridiculous, but many of which
have a very great deal lo be said for them, because, i f they do not
embody the whole truth, they do embody some important aspect of it,
and they enable techniques to be developed which are extremely useful
in getting rid of disease. A l l these unitary concepts which are worth
anything at ali start from the principle that disease is an abnormal state
and health the natural heritage of man and that the problem of
therapeutics is to liberate the natural healing forces of the body or to
remove the obstructions to their operation, and they go on to lay down
some method of approach to the treatment of disease which is of
universal application because it is based on some fundamental law or
principle. The trouble with all these unitary concepts is that their
exponents are apt to claim that they are the whole truth when really
Ihey are only part of it or one aspect of it. In tact 1 believe that nearly
all well established diseases or pathological states are vicious circles
which even i f they originally had one simple cause are often maintained by other factors or bring in their train secondary effects which
may be of the greatest importance from a practical point of view. Thus
in the vast majority of disease conditions of any importance or long
standing there is an osteopathic (i.e., mechano-structural) angle, a
chemical angle and a psychological angle. They are thus vicious
circles in which at least three things arc involved. In some cases it may
be enough to break the circle at one point, but in others it may be
essential, or anyway advisable and quicker, to break it at more than one
point. The art of the physician is to know at which point or points it is
most essential to break the circle, because in some cases one point is of
primary importance and in some cases another. Now in nearly all
cases the osteopathic approach can and should be made and in many
cases if this is done properly Nature will do the rest, but in some cases
to get the quickest and best results we may need to make an approach
from other directions as well. I think we should realise this and look
upon osteopathy not as a complete system in itself but as a basis from
which to work. Other techniques and approaches provided that they
are constructive and not destructive are to be welcomed and are to be
regarded as complementary and not antagonistic to osteopathy. The
thing is that, thanks largely to Dr. Still, physical medicine has ad62
vanced a good deal farther than either chemical medicine or psychological medicine. We do know quite a lot about how to restore normal
anatomy and normal physiology through our osteopathic procedures,
but the restoration of normal body chemistry and normal psychology is
far less well understood. 1 do believe, however, that there are already
in existence constructive techniques in the realms of chemical and
psychological medicine and that the outlines of the fundamental principles which govern these departments of knowledge are beginning to
appear. Such techniques and such principles are not antagonistic to
osteopathy but are complementary to it as they are all helpful in
liberating the vis medocatrix natures.
At this point I must digress very briefly to discuss the relationship of
so-called "Orthodox Medicine" to these ideas. All unitary concepts of
disease and treatment, whether they come from Dr. Still and the
osteopaths, Dr. Hahnemann and the homceopaths, Dr. Lindlahr and the
naturopaths, J. E. R. McDonagh, William Koch, Mary Baker Eddy or
anyone else, are anathema to the medical profession. I f this attitude
was based on profound critical thought and was accompanied by an
attempt to find something better, good rather than harm might come of
it, but the fact seems to be that the medical profession has not yet
seriously begun to face up to the problem of disease at all, or to try to
discover the fundamental laws or principles by which health is governed or which should underlie treatment. The tendency is to look
upon every disease as a separate and unrelated entity for which some
specific treatment must be administered and most of the treatments,
though they may appear to be scientific, are in fact empirical because
they are not related to any law or principle. Whether they do the
patient good or harm in the Long run is largely a matter of chance. The
nearest thing which orthodox medicine has to a baste principle is a
belief that a large proportion of disease is parasitic in character and
origin. Even i f this was true, which I do not believe it is, the
knowledge that it was so would not be very helpful or get us very much
farther, because parasitism is not so much a principle as a phenomenon
and in so far as it exists the interesting and important thing to know
about it is its cause and meaning and the part which it is playing in the
general scheme of things. By all means let us admit that osteopathy
may not be the whole answer to the problem of disease, but let us be
very cautious in looking for further enlightenment among people who
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have not seriously faced up to the problem at all, and in many cases are
even proud of the fact that they have not, and condemn as "cultists" all
have tried to so.
But to return to the history of osteopathic theory, we must now consider
the ideas of some of the immediate followers of Dr. Still- Dr. Still left
his disciples with the two ideas that osteopathy was a drugless system
of healing and that it was a complete system; he also left them with the
problem of putting osteopathy into academic form and reconciling it
with a growing body of scientific and pseudo-scientific knowledge and
with discoveries of one kind or another connected with medicine.
Without going into too great detail 1 want to draw your attention
especially to the ideas of Dr. G. D. Hulett and Dr. J. M . Littlejohn
because I think they are particularly interesting and important.
Dr. G. D. Hulett's book on the Principles of Osteopathy is not, I think,
read as much as it should be. It strikes me as an exceedingly scholarly
and thoughtful work and far better than many others which are much
better known. The thing which particularly interests me about it is that
it comes nearer than any other work to giving an intelligent and
convincing defence of osteopathy as a complete system of therapy. If I
rightly understand Dr. Hulett "s argument it is that the human body is
naturally self adjusting to any sort of stimulus which is applied to it.
Moreover pathology or disease, though it may manifest itself in a cell
or group of cells cannot really originate there.
The cell is a self-regulating entity which will remain healthy and
function properly provided that its blood and nerve supplies are
functioning properly both quantitatively and qualitatively. However,
the framework and supporting tissues of the body are something of an
exception to the general self-regulating tendency of the body, although
they do have it to a certain degree. There are various reasons for this;
Ihe variety of man's occupations and the variety of the uses to which he
puts his body especially in a highly civilised and specialised society put
a special strain and stress on Ihe body framework, man may not be
adjusted as perfectly as he might be to the erect posture either anatomically or physiologically, and (Hulett makes a special point of this) the
supporting tissues of the body, bone, cartilage, ligament, etc., are less
purely cellular than the other tissues of the body and contain a large
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is not quite so. There are two or three criticisms 1 would iike to make.
The first is that he follows Dr. Still in almost completely ignoring or
playing down all forms of chemical medicine. The second point is that
he seems to me to put undue weight on the factor which he calls
"environment". It appears to group under this head everything which
may be contributing to the sick condition of the patient other than the
structural and mechanical factor, including apparently living habits,
diet and the psychological condition of the patient. These things he
regards apparently as environmental factors which have to be adjusted
in some cases but which are of very secondary importance. In many
cases they may be so, but I do not think that they are so in all cases. I
feel that it would be sounder and more logical to admit that there are
other factors besides the mechanical and structural factor by which
health is conditioned and which must be given their due place in any
complete system of therapeutics. I would also add that in the field of
bacteriology Dr. Littlejohn appears to take very much the view of
Bechamp as opposed to that of Pasteur and he regards micro-organisms
as the result rather than the cause of disease. In so far as they do cause
disease they condition its form and manifestations rather than acting as
Us essential cause. This is a view which has been embraced in its most
extreme form by the Nature Cure School or by certain sections of it; I
have always been a Bechamp fan and 1 have a lot of sympathy v/ith i t
I am quite certain that both the structural and the chemical condition of
the patient have a very great bearing on the problem of immunity. Yet
I think that there are certain difficulties in accepting that complete
immunity results from either completely sound structure or completely
sound chemistry or even from both together. It seems that there are
noxious influences or infections which can produce serious reactions in
healthy people and healthy animals and plants. What the causes behind
this are and how it is best to deal with such situations I do not pretend
to know.*
* As instances of this may be ched the fact ihil Apparently very healthy primitive races
have suffered severely and been killed offin large number on beingfirstbrought uilo contact
with diseases brought to them by European discover a s or invaders. Among animals there
has recently been the case of [he almost total destruction ofrabbitsby myxomatosis. With
regard la plants we have cases of phenomena such as the Irish potato famine when apparently
all potatoes, whether wdl or badly cultivated, were attacked by disease and destroyed. On
the other hand it does appearfromthe work of Sir Albert Howard and others thai crops and
animals raised on really healthy soil are relatively immune horn disease.
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mind and body (e.g. narcotics, drugs derived from heavy metals) and
that it is at Least probable that much of the chronic disease which exists
today can be attributed to the skill with which acute disease is suppressed. There can be very little doubt that healing crises do take place
even though we may not be able to explain all acute reactions in this
way. The early osteopaths. Dr. Linlejohn among them, were dead
against putting drugs into the body because they are toxic and foreign
to the body economy and make diagnosis and constructive treatment
more difficult. This idea seems to me sound, and it has always been a
mystery to me that orthodox medicine which admits that fevers and
acute reactions are a response of the body by which it is seeking to
overcome some adverse condition or thing should so often consider the
reduction of fever and the ending of the acute reaction by all possible
means as a desirable thing in itself. The important thing to do in an
acute febrile condition would seem to be to assist the reaction and not
to stop it. This can best be done by helping elimination through skin,
kidneys and lungs, supporting and assisting the vital organs and
improving the circulation and drainage of the parts and organs particularly affected. To add to the toxa;mia by the giving of drugs does not
seem very sensible. It is true that acute diseases may be dangerous and
cause death or permanent disability if not dealt with in some way, but I
think it has yet to be shown that drugs or antibiotics have better results
in any disease than a judicious combination of more natural methods
such as osteopathy, hydrotherapy, and homoeopathy (which East may be
a powerful aid in helping the specific response of the body which is
required in the circumstances). It must be remembered that it is always
the vitality of the body which brings about cure and if this vitality is not
sufficient it is not likely to be made so by the use of toxic substances
which throw a further burden upon it; i f it is sufficient the problem is
to direct it and help it. 1 am aware that in practice it may sometimes be
necessary or appear to be so to use drugs or to permit their use by the
patient, for instance to relieve pain or promote sleep, until such time as
curative measures can be initiated or become effective. It musl
however be realised that most drug treatments are at best palliative
and, i f at all prolonged, are harmful. The more we know about more
natural methods of palliation and control of symptoms such as pain, the
less frequently shall we need to use them. Like much of modern
surgery they are a confession of failure and tack of knowledge, I think
moreover that we should combat in our patients the modern habit of
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never leaving the body and the nervous system alone. Apart from
tobacco and alcohol in which we nearly all indulge in more or less
moderation, there are far too many people who will not endure the
slightest discomfort without taking aspirin or something, cannot sleep
without sedatives, wake up without stimulants, or digest without
something else. This is deplorable and must tend to produce ultimately
a breakdown of the body machinery if not also of the mind.
We have now examined, albeit briefly, the various phases and forms of
osteopathic theory from the time of Dr, Still until the present day. [
would now like to suggest, with all modesty, a somewhat different way
of looking at the whole matter. If we are going to get our politics and
education right we must retain our essential principles and yet seek to
enlarge them, bring them up to date and fit them into the modern
scene. We must on the one hand resist the tendency to allow osteopathy to be confused with manipulation as a method or form of treatment
and to become no more than a specialism with an orthodox background. There are unfortunately quite a number of people who would
be prepared to sell out osteopathy to the medical profession on these
terms and I believe that they should be resisted with all the firmness,
wisdom and guile which we can command. But on the other hand, 1
think we should give up repeating like parrots that Osteopathy is a
complete system of therapeutics when in fact it Is not and when very
few of us really believe that it is. This can only Lead to a wide
divergence between what we say and what we do, and to the haphazard
adoption and use of all sorts of so-called "adjunctives" regardless of
their soundness or real value. J think we ought to take a wider and
more philosophic view and govern our politics and educational policy
according to it. I would suggest that we should Look upon bodily health
as a sort of edifice which is supported on pillars. As far as we can
discern at present there are three main pillars, though there may be
others that we do not know about. One of these pillars is the
mechanical and structural state of the body itself, another is its
chemical integrity or make up, and the third is a mental pillar
including the subconscious mind and the emotions. When all these
pillars are in good order we get health but when something goes wrong
with one of them we get disease. More-over when one of them goes
wrong it is apt to upset the other two, but fortunately it is also true that
if we do something good to any one of them Ihe other Iwo will be
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to lay down the law at least as much as anyone else. In the realms of
chemical and psychological medicine we do not want to become
specialists, but I think that we should know more about these subjects
than we do and we should be ready to subject the treatments which are
given by persons of other schools, whether orthodox or unorthodox, to
a close scrutiny in the light of our osteopathic principles. When we
agree with them we should say so and when we do not we should say so
and we should give our reasons. We should be very careful about
letting medical men loose to teach in our schools in any but the most
basic, noo-controversial and non-clinical subjects. In the realm of pure
knowledge of facts these people are often far ahead of what we can
provide among ourselves but their interpretation of the facts and their
use of their knowledge clinically is more often wrong than right
because very few of them have any basic principles to guide them in
how to apply what they know. Their approach is to the disease rather
than to the patient, and though scientific in detail it is empirical in its
essence, and the specialisms are not pulled together by any unifying
concept. 1 believe that we might help our students most by teaching
them Practice in a clearer and more authoritative way. 1 am much
impressed by notes of the late Dr. Littlejohn's lectures which I have
been given in which he takes common conditions and diseases one by
one and gives a detailed osteopathic approach to them from the points
of view both of aetiology and treatment 1 think we should revise these
and use them, but also in each case correlate them in a critical manner
to other orthodox and unorthodox treatments for the same conditions.
Tnis is only one suggestion, and 1 hope that others may emerge from
our discussions here today.
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T H E I N T E G R I T Y OF T H E P E L V I C G I R D L E
I
INTRODUCTION
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Another method of being sure that the pelvis is squared off properly
before filming is to He the patient on his face and carefully to compare
the position of Ihe posterior-superior spines on the two sides in relation
to the sacral spine. I f the sacro-iliac joints are properly aligned the
levels of the spines and their distance from the mid-line should be
equal. I f they are not equal it will imply that one or both sides require
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II
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The first two of these lesions are by far the most common; they are, m
fact, so common among those suffering from low back trouble as to be
almost universal These first two lesions should be dealt with first
before any attempt is made to deal with any of the other three, which
may be present in addition. These three really indicate that a torsion,
side bending or tilting of the sacrum has taken place and they appear to
result in most cases from violence of a fairly serious character.
The first thing to be learnt is the diagnostic points by which these
lesions can be distinguished. The 'inferior-lateral' (short leg) innominate is so called because of the downward (caudad) and lateral movement which takes place in the position of the posterior-superior spine
of the ilium on the side of the lesion. This downward and lateral
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Figure 1
All'
Wight
H" A
B
C. The lumbo-sacral spinous processes.
Figure IE
Kight
A. Normal position of posteriorsuperior spine of the ilium.
lj"A
It may here be noted that the techniques hereafter given for the
correction of the two lesions, i f properly performed, do not seem ever to
lead to over-correction. It may therefore be legitimate in difficult cases
to perform the two corrective procedures on both sides, and if, after this
has been done, the length of the legs still appears uneven it is very
strong evidence indeed that one has to deal with a case of 'primary or
'anatomical' short leg. Moreover, it should be remembered that in many
cases in which there is a gross lesion on one side it will be found, after
this has been corrected, that there is another lesser lesion on the other
side which was not at first easily apparent. It is well, therefore, to make
a habit of repeating the diagnostic procedure outlined above after every
correction so as to be quite sure that a further correction on the other
side is not also required. Satisfactory results and stable corrections
cannot be obtained unless a complete correction is made on both sides.
1
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not need to be very hard, but it should be quick, firm and decided and
the patient can be asked to grasp the head of The table with his hands so
as to resist the pull on the leg when it is made. I f it is desired to correct
an anterior ilium (posterior sacrum) the practitioner should stand on
the opposite side of ihe table and grasp the anterior of the ilium with
one of his hands, he should place the heel of the other hand on the most
prominent portion of the posterior surface of the sacrum. After getting
a firm grip and taking up the slack the thrust is made by pulling the
ilium up and back towards the spine with one hand and at the same
time thrusting down on the sacrum with the other. It is sometimes
necessary to perform this movement more than once, but i f it is done
properly and synchronised with a pull on the Leg it is usually possible
to bring about a satisfactory correction by means of a movement of the
bones which can be distinctly felt.
In the correction of a posterior ilium (anterior sacrumj the movements
to be made are very similar, but in this case no thrust must be made on
Ihe sacrum. One hand grips the anterior'superior spine and the crest of
the ilium while the heel of the other hand is placed on the posteriorsuperior spine. The main thrust is made on Ihe posterior-superior spine
in a downward and outward direction, but at the same time an attempt
should be made to pull the anterior-superior part of the ilium downwards and forwards with the other hand. In this case too the thrust
should be carefully synchronised with a pull on the leg and It is again
possible that several thrusts will have to be made to effect a satisfactory
correction. A careful check should be made after each thrust especially
if it has been possible to feel a definite movement taking place, because
it is possible, at least in theory, to make an over-correct ion with the
techniques for anterior and posterior displacements of the ilium.
The correction of a Tilled Sacrum can often be achieved by thrusting
downwards and side ways on the sacrum with the heel of the hand in
such a way as to push its superior and inferior portions in the direction
required in the particular case. A good deal of force should be used and
both hands should be used to make the thrust, one acting as a
reinforcement of the other. In the more difficult cases it is sometimes
advisable to have an assistant to pull on the leg at the same lime in the
same manner as in the techniques for anterior and posterior ilium. It is
often possible to relieve tenderness and tension in the region of the
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sacroiliac joint by a sharp pull of this kind on the leg even without any
thrust being applied to the sacrum itself.
These techniques for the correction of sacral lesions are no doubt
valuable. It is possible for various torsions and fixations of the sacrum
to arise which hold it in an abnormal position between the ilia but
which do not disturb the sacro-iliac in such a way as to alter the relative
length of the two extremities. When mis has happened ii is often
possible to rock the ilia on the sacrum in such a way as to correct the
abnormality. However, in a general way when this kind of trouble has
arisen it is a sign that the pelvic muscles and the fasciae and ligaments
of the region are out of balance and have lost their tone and elasticity
on one side or on both. 1 would feel that the best way of dealing with
such a situation is by myofascial techniques aimed at balancing up the
pelvic musculature rather than relying solely on the sacral techniques
here described.
In connection with all the pelvic lesions it must be remembered thai
after a correction, especially i f it is for the first time, there is likely to
be a more or less serious reaction, lasting from one to three or four
days, during this period the patient's symptoms may become aggravated and he may develop others, such as pain or discomfort in the
lower back and legs. These reactions are the result of the sudden
over-flow of blood into the parts as a consequence of the sudden
removal of the disturbing influence of the lesion. I f the patient continues to feel distress for longer than three or four days it generally means
that the correction was not properly made or that it has not been
maintained. It is also important to emphasise again that it is very
common tor both sides of the pelvis to be in lesion. If an inferior-Lateral
or superior-medial lesion is present on one side it is possible that one or
the other of them is also present on the other side, even though it may
be very slight in amount. If this second lesion is not corrected there is
likely to be a continued or even increased discomfort and there is small
chance of the first correction being maintained. It is, therefore, essential, after the correction of the greater or more obvious lesion, to make
sure that any slighter lesion which may be present on the other side has
been properly corrected.
It must be noted thai Mackinnon and his friends worked out his method
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III CURVATURES
There can be very little doubt that the great majority of the functional
and postural curvatures which are to be found in many spines originate,
in the first instance, from misplacements of the pelvic bones. Even in
the case of organic curvatures It can often be shown that lesions of the
pelvic joints have played a great part in the production of the condition
and in the determination of its particular conformation. Moreover, it
will be found that the curvatures which appear bear, as a general rule,
a very definite relation to the particular lesions which exist, or have
existed, in the pelvic region. There are, of course, exceptional cases in
which the curvatures present do not follow the usual pattern, but these
are not sufficiently numerous to prevent the laying down of a general
rule; also, in many such cases it is possible to discover a history of
some rather exceptional injury or circumstance which accounts for the
unusual nature of the curvatures.
The curvatures which come into being in the spinal column as the
result of innominate lesions appear to be due mainly to the alteration
which takes place in the relative length of the two legs. The necessities
of proper balance and locomotion cause the spinal column to develop
curvatures in an attempt to compensate for the difference in the length
of the two legs. Also, all pelvic lesions produce some malalignment of
the sacrum on which the spinal column rests and some strain on the
spinal musculature and ligaments. These conditions naturally lead to
the appearance of curvatures. The careful taking of many case histories
has revealed the fact that the nature of the curvatures is generally
determined by the first serious innominate lesion to take place and by
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o
Right
T^cft
v
Figure IV
Right
Left
V
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Right
A modified type of curvature often
produced with a (right) Inferiorlateral Innominate as the main lesion.
V
The determination of exactly what type of curvature is present in a
given case is not always easy, but it is very important that it should be
undertaken. The successful treatment of the spine, especially in chronic
cases, depends very largely on doing something to reduce the curvature
and to relax the lense spinal tissues on the side of the convexity in each
region of the spine. Unless work on the curvature is combined with the
correction of Ihe innominates and of other specific lesions which may
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short time, until she is gradually able to take more solid rood, but most
cases will improve with surprising rapidity.
An Inferior-lateral right innominate produces an irritation and distension of the gut which appears to be the predisposing cause of appendicitis. The same lesion is also a factor in most cases of gastric and
duodenal ulcer as well as in most cases of diarrhoea and many cases of
headache. In cases of ulcer attention should also be given to the region
of the sixth, seventh and eighth dorsal, and in cases of headache to the
liver area and the neck, but these lesions are nearly always secondary to
an Inferior-lateral right innominate. In the same way, nearly all cases
of rectal irritation and haemorrhoids will be found to be due to an
Inferior-lateral right innominate, though bleeding from the rectum
usually indicates that there is an Inferior-lateral left innominate
Bed-wetting in children and night emissions in adults are sometimes
tedious to treat successfully, because the pelvic nerves are often very
much irritated and it is necessary to maintain the corrections made for
a considerable time before the irritation dies down sufficiently for the
symptoms to abate entirely. However, these conditions are generally
due to an old standing Inferior-lateral left innominate. The same lesion
is often responsible for bladder irritation, kidney disturbances and
undue frequency of urination. Stoppage of urination is a condition
which is often caused by an Inferior-lateral lesion of both innominates.
In such cases a careful correction of the pelvis should be made. I f this
is done before the bladder has become too full it may relieve the
condition without much further treatment, but in severe cases it may be
necessary to use the catheter after the necessary corrections have been
made.
The most stubborn cases of constipation can be produced by a Superiormedial left innominate. Inferior-lateral lesions of either innominate,
especially the right, will tend to produce diarrhoea at first, but constipation may follow later with gas formation and broken stools.
An Inferior-lateral Left innominate is the Lesion which is specially
associated with menstrual and uterine disorders of all kinds. It will
often cause local bleeding during pregnancy and its correction will
frequently prevent miscarriage, especially round the third month of
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pregnancy. Most misplacements and malpositions of the uterus including prolapses wilt gradually right themselves i f the pelvis is properly
adjusted and the corrections maintained for a sufficient time. The last
named condition is generally associated with Inferior-lateral lesions of
both innominates which have been present for a long time. Old
standing pelvic lesions also appear to be a predisposing cause in uterine
tumours and growths of all kinds, and they are often a factor in causing
sterility both in the male and in the female. It is also highly important
that all women who are about to be delivered should have their pelvic
bones properly in position as this helps to ensure normal labour and
delivery and to prevent lacerations, uterine inertia and after complications.
An Inferior-lateral left innominate is the lesion especially associated
with circulatory disturbances of all kinds including abnormal heart
function and even abnormal blood pressure. In such cases careful
attention should also be paid to the region of the third to fifth dorsal
and the associated ribs but lesions in this area are usually produced,
aggravated or maintained by an Inferior-lateral left innominate. Varicose veins and leg ulcers are generally produced or aggravated by
Infer tor-lateral lesions, especially on the left side.
5
In a general way it has been observed that Super tor-medial innominates produce severe sensory symptoms, while Inferior-lateral innominates have more effect on the viscera. This is by no means an absolute
rule, but in cases of severe pain in the back or severe lumbago or
sciatica it is always wise to look for a Superior-medial lesion at least on
one side.
The above list does not in any way exhaust the symptoms which may be
produced by innominate lesions. Such lesions produce irritations of the
nervous system, especially on the side of the lesion, and they cause
stresses and curvatures in all parts-of the spine which will produce
different symptoms according to the special tendencies, idiosyncracies
or structural weaknesses of the individual patient. Thus, in cases of
asthma it is always important to see that the pelvis is properly adjusted,
for although asthma is generally associated with bad lesions in the
upper dorsal region, such lesions are nearly always irritated, maintained and rendered more active by some misplacement in the pelvic
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V MAINTENANCE OF CORRECTIONS
The maintenance of pelvic corrections is often a problem which
presents great difficulties. When the lesions are of recent origin and the
patient is a person of good physique, with tissues in good tone, a single
correction will often suffice to bring about a permanent cure. In other
cases, however, it is possible to go on adjusting the pelvic bones for
weeks, or even months, without their becoming really stable. Fundamentally the problem to be solved is one of nutrition and body tone.
The sacro-iliac joints seem to be specially prone to give trouble.
According to the view of some, this is due to the human body being
imperfectly adapted to the erect posture, but, however this may be, it is
certain that any shocks or violence to which the body is subjected will
produce trouble in the sacro-iliac joints much more readily than in
other parts of the bony framework of the body. These joints seem,
indeed, to act in some degree as shock absorbers whenever the body is
subjected to violence or strain, and, as they are gliding joints of a
somewhat peculiar kind without much muscle support, they depend
more than most other joints for their strength on the tone and elasticity
of the supporting ligaments. Among most 'civilised people the general
body tone is so poor as the result of wrong feeding, suppressed disease,
unhealthy living habits and poisoning with drugs and vaccines, often
going back for some generations, that the body framework is no longer
able to stand the strains which are normally put upon it. It is quite
common to find new born babies with pelvic and other misplacements
or lesions, even in cases in which the birth has been quite norma),
which goes to show that many children are born with a definite
weakness in the supporting tissues of the body. It often lakes much time
and patience as well as vigorous all-round treatment to overcome such
weakness, especially in persons who have been chronically sick for
some time and who are no longer young.
1
There are certain measures which can be taken to improve the tone of
the tissues and so to encourage the maintenance of pelvic corrections.
It is probable that other methods can be and will be devised as the
nature o f the problem becomes better understood. There Is very little
doubt that systems of exercise are already in existence which could be
used or modified with this special end in view. We shall, however,
confine ourselves here to the consideration of some of the simpler aids
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There can be Utile doubt that exercises such is those which are advocated by F. A
Horaibrook in bis bunous classic The Cuftvre of the Abdomen (now out of print and difficult
lo obtain) can do much lo improve ihe strength and stability of the whole abdominal *nd
pelvic region.
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1 believe that it is time for us who live and carry on our work in the
osteopathic and naturopathic tradition to do some serious thinking on
the whole subject of vaccination and immunisation. We are tradition
ally opposed to these things and we are aware that in being so opposed
we are in conflict with current scientific and medical opinion, with
pCAverful vested interests, with governments and even with the law. I
believe that fundamentally we are right in looking with suspicion on
all, or most, of these procedures, but i f we are to convince others that
we are right, it will be necessary for us to state our case more
convincingly and more scientifically than we do at present and to
indicate better ways of doing what orthodox vaccination and immunisation is doing or claims to be doing. This will lead us into some very
deep water, but even i f it is only for our own satisfaction 1 think we
should be seeking for answers to a number of questions.
The first question to be considered in any given case is: what exactly is
the substance, which is being administered? This is not a question
which is easy to answer, as the preparation of vaccines and sera has
become highly technical, the immunity which it is sought to produce is
sometimes of the active and sometimes of the passive variety, and in
some cases the ingredients are supposed to be living and in other cases
dead. There are also differences in the mode of preparation and the
mode of administration. Thus, while animal tissues or animal sera are
generally used, it is not always in the same way; some preparations are
applied to the skin, as in the original small pox vaccination, some are
injected in one way or another and some are designed to be taken
orally. In the classical case of small pox vaccination there is reason to
think that the nature of the substance has changed completely since the
time of Jenner, and that it is now far removed from the "cow pox"
which he regarded as a protection against small pox- However, in
connection with all these substances certain objections can be raisedOne objection is that in a general way ail forms of mass medication are
dangerous because no two people react in the same way to the same
thing and what may be harmless to one person may be dangerous or
inappropriate to another. Another objection is that we do not really
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know what the ultimate effects are on the tissues and fluids of the body
of putting into it substances derived from animal tissues, especially
diseased animal tissues, it may very well be that the ultimate effects
are very harmful and indeed it is almost impossible to believe that some
of them are not when we consider how they are prepared. Moreover,
putting things into the body by injection, especially i f it is done directly
into the blood stream, is very far from being a natural procedure, and it
is by no means certain thai it does not sometimes do harm and have
effects which are not realised, especially on the cardio-vascular system.
The second question is: are these preparations really effective for the
purpose, which they are supposed to fulfill? This, too, is not an easy
question to answer in any given case. There are a great many different
opinions and a good deal of evidence which appears to be conflicting,
and a lot of the statistics and the interpretation which is given to them
are open to suspicion. For instance, anti-vaccinists have pointed out
that, in the case of small pox, it is not the countries with complete
vaccination so much as the countries with good hygiene and sanitation,
which have the lowest incidence of the disease. Also although the
incidence and severity of some diseases for which there is an immunising treatment have apparently declined, the same may also be said of
other diseases for which no such treatment exists. The views of
persons who have lived and worked, either as doctors or as administrators, in primitive overcrowded and undeveloped parts of the world and
have been brought face to face with the most terrible and destructive
epidemics, are by no means in agreement as to the efficacy of the
immunising or curative vaccines which are in common use. Some of
them seem to have become anti-vaccinists as a result of their experience while others declare that they could not possibly have checked,
prevented or controlled serious epidemics without the appropriate
vaccinations and serums treatments. To me it seems that the efficacy
and desirability of a great many of these treatments is quite unproven,
but that it is difficult to deny that some of them are to an extent
effective in preventing or controlling or curing some conditions,
although they may be doing so at a certain cost and may be less good
and less effective than other methods which might be used, as well as
having bad after effects. One reason, among others, which 1 have for
so feeling is that one can hardly escape from the conclusion that similar
forms of treatment applied to animals do have very definite effects.
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There is some evidence that i f the body is asked to deal with any kind
of toxin or infection it may be stimulated to produce inflammatory and
other reactions which will render it immune, at least for a time, to other
mfections. In this connection it is interesting to note that Dr. Still, the
rounder of Osteopathy, who was opposed to vacciation on account of its
dangers, believed that people could be protected from small pox during
an epidemic by being blistered with cantharidin or Spanish fly, and he
based his belief on actual experience in many small pox epidemics, hf,
in fact, it is possible to produce a general immunity reaction, even for a
short time, by me use of some harmless substance or even by some sort
of artificial fever, this opens up new possibilities in prophylaxis.
The fourth question is: what is the real nature of immunity, what
causes epidemics and how should natural immunity be acquired and
epidemics controlled and prevented? This, too, is a difficult question to
which to give a complete and satisfactory answer. We would all like to
feel that immunity is synonymous with good health and that if the body
is in a good physical and chemical condition with all its glands and
organs functioning as they should, it will be immune to infection or
will, at least, react easily and favourably to any noxious thing which
attacks it from the outside. That this is fundamentally the right way of
looking at things, I do believe, and we can indeed see the principle at
work in ourselves and in our patients. We know from experience that
there is, at (east, a relative immunity to many forms of acute disease
among people whose bodies are in a good physical and chemical
condition. We also know from experience that the so-called "healing
crisis" is a real thing and that it often Leads to greatly improved health
if it is dealt with wisely.
One great disadvantage of the germ theory of disease as now generally
accepted is that it concentrates attention on specific organisms and
viruses and does not answer the question of how they arise or where
they come from and why some people harbour them and some do not,
and why some people appear to react favourably to them and some
unfavourably. In the realm of treatment too, the parasitic germ theory
leads to the idea that the important thing to do is to kill "germs" or
neutralise them in some way. It is apt to be forgotten that the patient is
much more important than the disease and that it is the vitality,
condition and reactions of the patient, which bring about prevention or
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part lend to rely more and more on vaccines, serums and drugs for the
prevention and cure of acute diseases and, if such are not available or
do not appear effective, they are virtually powerless. The most striking
example of this is in the case of animals. It is apparently quite
inconceivable to the veterinary profession or the Ministry of Agriculture that there could be any treatment for foot and mouth disease except
a vaccine. As no vaccine, which they consider satisfactory, is available
they cheerfully insist on slaughtering thousands of valuable animals.
This makes it practically impossible for anyone to discover rational
methods of preventing, treating or controlling foot and mouth disease.
Note: Sir Albert Howard, the pioneer of organic farming, claimed that
his cattle showed almost complete immunity lo foot and mouth disease
although exposed to infection in a part of India where Ihe disease was
rife.
Techniques for assisting patients to get through the quite natural crises
and difficulties of acute disease, based on a sound knowledge of
anatomy, physiology and diet, are at a discount and tend actually to be
forgotten. Most of us have had some experience of treating acute
disease by such methods as osteopathy, hydrotherapy, homoeopathy
and the like and we know that it can be done, though one can have
some very anxious moments if one is not in the habit of doing it often
enough to acquire a high degree of skill and confidence.
It must be remembered that the early reputation of many of the
unorthodox schools was built up on the successful treatment of acute
diseases and epidemics, and this leads one sometimes to wonder
whether the fear which still attaches to some of them is really justified.
1 make this suggestion in all humility because I cannot back it with
personal experience of any great account and it is well known that
epidemics destroying a large percentage of the population can, and
sometimes still do, sweep over whole areas in such places as India,
China and Africa. Yet, I believe we are entitled to ask whether the
high mortality in such cases is really necessary. Certainly it seems
possible that when dangerous epidemics occur, especially among primitive and poverty-stricken people, the high mortality may be due to
ignorance, neglect or malnutrition, as well as to the panic which is
engendered; for we all know that if a sick person is very frightened and
hopeless and believes he is going to die he is very much more likely to
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under some control or die down this is very generally attributed to some
vaccination or similar treatment being applied on a mass scale. It is
very doubtful whether this explanation is sound or sufficient. It is also
true that a particular epidemic will sometimes sweep across whole
areas and, under modern conditions, even over the whole world, and do
great destruction and will then just work itself, out or disappear quite
suddenly without any very obvious explanation, and without any
specific measures being used to combat it. A number of interesting
questions are raised in the consideration of these phenomena. The first
question is whether the fact that an epidemic is very violent is
necessarily a bad sign. It has always been the naturopathic view that it
requires high vitality to respond in a strong and decisive manner to
infection or toxicity and that a weak response or no response at alt does
not necessarily imply good health or immunity. This idea seems to
have been believed in, to some extent and in some cases, by the
physicians of past generations, though it is not common today in
orthodox circles. For instance, a spectacular rash used always to be
considered a good sign in measles. We know too that it is not the
alcoholic or the drug addict who reacts in a spectacular way to alcohol
or morphine, but rather the much more healthy person who is not used
to these things. It may therefore be that when fundamentally healthy
populations react very violently to a sudden exposure to infection from
outside it is understandable on this basis. When such an epidemic
leads to a high mortality this may be due partly to unsatisfactory care
and inadequate or unwise treatment and partly, perhaps, to fear and
panic. In other cases when the health of primitive peoples becomes
undermined in a more chronic way and certain kinds of infectious
disease become endemic among them this would often appear to be due
to a change for the worse in their eating and living habits.
Yet, when all this has been said, it does appear that infections and
epidemics do sometimes arise which are of such virulence that they
carry all before them for a time. It is as if they set up a sort of chain
reaction in the body which breaks down alt resistance and causes death
before the natural reactions and protective mechanisms can operate.
There is some evidence that this kind of thing happens more frequently
when some new infection is introduced into a community from outside.
There are some infections too, like poliomyelitis, which are of such
virulence and so sudden in their onset, that they do irreparable injury
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or cause death almost before there is time to lake measures of any kind.
Diseases, which attack the brain or the central nervous system, are
particularly dangerous on account of the vulnerability of those highly
specialised tissues. What is the best way to deal with such situations,
can anything be done to prevent them from arising and what is the best
way of treating the victims i f thy do arise? Here we must, I believe, be
careful to separate in our minds the idea of prevention and prophylaxis
from the idea of treatment and cure.
First, therefore, we have to ask to what extent it is possible or desirable
by some specific measure to protect individuals or populations from
being attacked by some serious epidemic or infection. In considering
this question we must, I think, begin by realising that our conception of
what constitutes prophylaxis has become very restricted. The preoccupation of medical science with bacteria and viruses as the essential
cause of acute diseases has led to great neglect of research into the
much more important question of what causes such bacteria and
viruses to appear and to acquire their virulence. It is quite clear that
there must be causes for such diseases as small pox and diphtheria
arising in the first place and for their being more common and more
virulent at some times and in some places than in others. I f the
conditions, which give rise to them, could be got rid of it is reasonable
to suppose that they would cease to exist or become so rare and mild as
to be unimportant. There is, of course, an awareness that many
diseases are associated in a general way with poor hygiene, poor
nutrition and various kinds of bad living habits and conditions, but the
knowledge which we have of the causes which lie at the back of most
of the dangerous diseases is vague and fragmentary and is generally
regarded as being of secondary importance as compared with the
discovery or isolation of some organism or virus. It is highly probable
that when we come to understand better what leads to the development
of certain diseases and what makes some apparently healthy people
susceptible to them and others immune, we shall become much less
interested in organisms and specific vaccines elaborated from them.
Yet, in the meanwhile, there is obviously an argument for using
specific prophylactic measures i f such measures can be devised and
shown to be effective and harmless. It is not by any means easy in any
given case to be sure either that a certain protective procedure is
effective or that it is harmless and not merely suppressive or alterative
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belter ways of attempting to achieve the same ends. It is not now very
easy to find scientists who will openly express unorthodox views on
medical matters or to get money and support for research on unorthodox lines, but it is clear that the questions which we have been
considering do suggest manyfieldsof research. Not the least important
of these would be a determined attempt to establish whether or not it is
possible to produce genuine immunity by homoeopathic means. Secondly, I believe that the anti-vaccination movement can be criticised
because it often gives the impression that it is really concerned with
vivisection rather than with vaccination. Though the anti-vivisection
cause is one which arouses sympathy and attracts a lot of financial
support, it is capable of confusing the issue in connection with the
vaccination question which should, I believe, be considered on its own
merits. For the rest there is very little we can do except to study and
observe and take every possible opportunity of putting into practice the
methods of treatment in which we believe, while avoiding and discouraging as far as possible treatments which appear to be suppressing
disease or increasing toxicity in any way.
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interlacing the fingers, at the same time reaching over and placing the
patient's elbow in the cup thus formed by the palms your hands. A
small pillow or pad should be placed between your chest and the
patient's back and shoulder. A thrust should then be made by pulling
sharply upwards and backwards on the elbow against the resistance of
your chest, while at the same time exerting an inward and downward
pressure with the fleshy part of the forearm on the acromion end of the
clavicle. The effect of this movement is to hold the clavicle down while
the scapula is forced upwards in such a way that the twist of the
clavicle is corrected.
If the clavicle is depressed, it may be corrected in the following
manner. Fold the arms across the patient's chest in such a way that one
elbow is crossed over the other, with the arm of the side which requires
to be corrected on top of the other. Stand behind and above the patient
and take his right elbow in your left hand and his left elbow in your
right hand. Place a small pillow between your chest and the patient's
back. Then pull on the patient's two elbows until they are as tightly
pulled over one another as they will go. When this point has been
reached hold them firmly and make a sharp additional pull or thrust on
the elbow of the side which requires to be corrected. This has the effect
of exerting an upward pressure on the depressed clavicle and so
rotating it back into its rjroper position.
When both clavicles have been properly corrected, their sternal ends
should appear exactly level, though there is occasionally a slight
irregularity in cases of very old standing or if there has been a fracture
of one of the clavicles at some previous time in the life of the patient.
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J O C E L Y N C A M P B E L L PATRICK PROBY
It has been a great privilege lo have had close contact through all my
professional life with such a wonderful man. All who knew him will
miss his counsel, his great sense of fim and ready wit, the depth of his
knowledge and constancy and the warmth and support of his friendship.
He was a remarkable man; a man of many parts. Educated at Eton and
Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was an accomplished oarsman,
he was well prepared for his engagement as a history don at Toronto
University. When osteopathy called, he trained at Kirksvilie, Missouri
and obtained his doctorate of osteopathy in the early thirties.
In practice, he assisted Daniel Mackinnon (who had graduated at the
Lindlake College of Natural Therapeutics) and became a fine naturopath as well as an extremely able osteopath. He greatly assisted
Mackinnon in the preparation of his book "The Conquest of Pain" and
agreed wholeheartedly with his insistence on the importance of pelvic
balance and integrity. Throughout his career, Jocelyn preached the
importance of the pelvis, demonstrating the gentle and safe Mackinnon
techniques for balancing the sacro-iliac joints, leaving with us understanding on this subject among his many essays and monographs.
Returning to Britain he assisted Kelman Macdonald in Edinburgh and
then renewed his Anglo-Irish connections by moving to Ark low in
Eire, setting up in practice in Arklow and Merrion Square, Dublin.
His ability and integrity drew people from many continents to seek his
help but success did not alter the man. He was always the same.
Many students of the BSO, and others too, have had knowledge of his
open generosity when he would invite them to his home in Eire and let
them share in osteopathic and naturopathic understanding, in farming
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and forestry on his own land, and in a sharing of his love of the country
in which he lived.
In England, which he visited frequently, he worked quietly and with
persistence to help to establish the GCRO especially in its early days.
At the time of his death he was the last surviving subscriber to the
Memorandum of Association under which the GCRO was set up in
1936. He worked to improve osteopathic education and at a difficult
time was Vice Dean of the BSO in the early years of the second world
war. In 1955-56 he was elected President of the OAGB. Also in 1955
he was a founder member of the Osteopathic Institute of Applied
Technique in Maidstone, opening proceedings with an inaugural
speech.
He was always looking to expand his understanding of the working of
the human body and the means by which its health could be further
improved. So it was that in 1962 he organised a course of instruction in
"Structural Integration ' under the personal tuition of its originator, Ida
P Rolf. Following his successfijl completion of the course he was
registered as a "Rolfer".
1
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