26/10/2024
Always good to read!
These are words that come directly from an email written by Dr. Typaldos. Dr. Typaldos was an Osteopath and every thing he learned, discovered, and taught was seen through that lens. No one person holds the truth, just their understanding of the truth.
The History of Orthopathy (From an email by Stephen Typaldos, June 29, 1999)
And although the early components of the fascial distortion model date back to 1991, the term 'orthopathy' did not come into use until 1996. As the field grew it became increasingly obvious that a name was needed. There reached a point when doctors had to explain to patients and other doctors what they were doing when they treated orthopathically. It was cumbersome to answer the question, "What do you call what your doing?" osteopathy since compared to what other DO's were doing this practice envisioned and treated the injuries through a strongly defined anatomical approach with far more aggressive therapies than what other osteopaths were offering. And it was equally cumbersome to explain 30 times a day "I'm envisioning and treating you with techniques developed through the fascial distortion model". A name therefore became inevitable. And since the main functions of the FDM are to 1) improve orthopedic surgical procedures and to 2) develop and perfect osteopathic manipulative approaches the name given was derived from a combination of the two words ORTHOpedics and osteoPATHY.
Also the FDM should not be considered a soft tissue therapy. The model has far reaching ramifications not only of strictly fascial therapies (such as triggerband technique), but also high velocity manipulation, cranial, etc.. but much more importantly it can be utilized to create new medical and surgical approaches. The model itself and the FDM treatments have been shaped by a large number of factors over an extended period of time which include anatomical dissections and most importantly clinical experiences in the emergency room on thousands of patients where the anatomical injuries are fresh and secondary distortions have not had time to evolve. And in the ER is where the results of orthopathy are most immediately conclusive as to the competitive nature of the treatments. (For instance, if you don't treat orthopedically but instead treat orthopathically you must be successful. The consequences for failing to immediately correct a sprained or fractured ankle so the patient can walk out of the ER without crutches will not only earn you the disdain of your fellow physicians but will also get you fired!). The clinical results of orthopathy are strongly stressed in the seminars where the participating doctors bring their own most difficult patients to be orthopathically diagnosed and treated. Another point: current orthopathic research is directed toward: 1) anatomical and surgical dissections, and 2) radiological and clinical documentation. Orthopathy is a new field and orthopedists, surgeons, cardiologists, neurologists, anatomists, and others are needed. Recently in Japan there are interested individuals who are working 1) on anatomical dissections, and 2) ultrasound imaging of before and after triggerband and continuum techniques.
A final counterpoint: The seminars and the book were formulated so that doctors can learn the rudimentary manipulative clinical aspects of orthopathy so that patients don't get sent out of the ER on crutches for a sprained ankle, and that frozen shoulders can be unfrozen despite having had a failed surgery. There is no 'merchandizing'. The entire field has been a tremendous financial drain. The ER treatments were given at every appropriate opportunity for over five years but never billed for. And the seminars bring in less than half the income that is made in the office over the same number of days. And the cost (never mind the years of labor) of designing, writing, editing, and physically producing a high quality hardback text with dozens of original color illustrations costs tens of thousands of dollars to produce, and realistically has potential sales of only several hundred. It is not finances that are the reward of practicing and developing orthopathy... its the clinical results.
