Institute of Classical Osteopathy

06/08/2025

The "No Physiology" through to Littlejohn's departure from Kirksville, his setting up the school in Chicago, returning to England, the establishment of the BSO to he death in 1947 and the difficulties at the BSO which led to the formation of the Institute of Classical Osteopathy in 1954

In this episode, we pick up the story with the so-called “No Physiology” incident — a myth that has long clouded the relationship between Still and Littlejohn.We follow Littlejohn’s departure from the American School of Osteopathy, setting up the school in Chicago, his return to England, the...

02/07/2025

“A Frontier Mind and A Scholar’s Cause: Still and Littlejohn”Why did A.T. Still reject the medicine of his time and create a radical new approach to health?And who was John Martin Littlejohn — the brilliant Scottish scholar whose convictions would carry osteopathy into the academic world?In ...

02/07/2025

“A Frontier Mind and A Scholar’s Cause: Still and Littlejohn”
Why did A.T. Still reject the medicine of his time and create a radical new approach to health?
And who was John Martin Littlejohn — the brilliant Scottish scholar whose convictions would carry osteopathy into the academic world?
In this episode of ICO Why We Exist part 1, Robert Cartwright traces Still’s frontier upbringing, profound personal losses, and deep trust in nature that led to the discovery of osteopathy, before introducing Littlejohn: a man of rigorous principle and intellect whose early life set the stage for osteopathy’s evolution.

“A Frontier Mind and A Scholar’s Cause: Still and Littlejohn”Why did A.T. Still reject the medicine of his time and create a radical new approach to health?And who was John Martin Littlejohn — the brilliant Scottish scholar whose convictions would carry osteopathy into the academic world?In ...

29/05/2025

Missed last nights webinar? - https://mailchi.mp/d568856faea6/missed-last-nights-webinar

28/05/2025

Going Live Today: Don't Miss the Blood Test Interpretation Webinar - https://mailchi.mp/6672cbb5f8e7/look-what-we-have-coming-up-17990643

21/05/2025

Our next ICO members webinar is on Wednesday 28th May at 7pm UK time and is a great bit of CPD for helping reviewing or interpret medical blood test results.

Anna Mould, MSc Advanced Nurse Practitioner in Older Person’s Mental Health Liaison, Hampshire & IOW Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Dip. H.E. RMN; Non-Medical Prescriber; MSc Advanced Practice

Anna qualified as a RMN in 1998 and has worked in Older Person’s Mental Health throughout her career, in different settings. As an Advanced Practitioner in Mental Health Liaison, she works clinically within the acute hospital setting in partnership with her medical and colleagues in many specialities. She is involved in education within the Liaison Service and the acute hospital and supports trainee Non-Medical Prescribers and trainee Advanced Practitioners from across the Trust.

Anna has been qualified as a Non-Medical Prescriber for nearly eighteen years and is passionate about supporting others develop on this pathway. She co-founded an online forum, “Prescribing for Mental Health”, which has over 1 thousand members nationally. The forum hosts three webinars a year, providing free CPD opportunities for NMPs working within the mental health field.

(It will be recorded😀)

Members please email ICOfrontdesk@Gmail.com
Non members follow the link here; https://www.tickettailor.com/events/instituteofclassicalosteopathy/1695077

30/03/2025

Some great courses coming up for ICO Members only and Osteopaths in general.
https://www.littlejohncentre.ie/courses-1

23/03/2025

This is a great book from an old friend of mine, here reviewed by Osteopath Nick Handoll DO.

Book review:
Missing Links in Healing
by Kuno van der Post, BOst
“Health is the only workable solution to disease, and it doesn’t work selectively.” Think about it.
The theme of this important new book from Kuno van der Post is pure AT Still: “Our job is to remove the
obstacles to healing … then step out of the way”. “It is nature’s job to heal the patient… Our job is to clear
the obstacles” “Create healthy conditions and health will emerge”
Van der Post studied at the British School of Osteopathy to 2006 and emigrated to Australia. He came to
osteopathy from experience, as a patient, rediscovering the message that Still himself tried to get over –
“The one thing I did learn to trust was the ability of the human body to recover.” “The moral is, trust your
body; it knows what it is doing.” (Still said: “the first thing in osteopathy is a belief in your own body”) Van
der Post: “The human body does not self-destruct, deciding to go wrong. The drive towards survival is
relentless” “If we have a fever and a runny nose, we don’t see the immune system as needing help. We see it
firing on all cylinders.” “Health is the best immunity; allow ourselves to trust the body” Regrettably over
the years brilliant treatment techniques have eclipsed the philosophy: “We have all the ingredients for a
great cake; it is the recipe that is missing”
This book is easy and fun to read; humour is used succinctly: “most therapies aimed at treating causes,
more often than not, hit the nail squarely on the thumb” and he doesn’t hold back: “Numerous studies have
shown that when doctors go on strike, death rates actually fall.”
It is highly critical of conventional healthcare. He talks about “the monopolisation of medicine” and “the
insistent way that paternalistic medicine owns health and disease, even when it isn’t the best fit.” “More
than 100,000 people are killed in the USA each year by medical drugs, just in hospitals.
” Ouch! “The drug
industry is a branch of the chemical industry that deliverers the same products that make us sick.” For EBM
he points out that there is no supporting evidence for it. He calls it tyranny; “when things went wrong the
physician no longer gets the blame."
The book is personal; we may not agree with everything. I don’t like the word ‘heal’ or ‘healing’ but that
won’t detract from the rest of it. It is certainly controversial talking about Big Pharma but so was Still.
These issues need to be aired and discussed. It may not be liked; we may not have Thought Police but we do
have institutional left-hemispheric disdain.
The book is brief, barely 300 pages and 20 short chapters, dealing with ‘How we measure success’,
‘Progression and regression of disease’, ‘Chaos’, complex systems, fractals, ‘Fever & the Healing Crisis’
‘Gravity’, ‘The Mental Side’ and others. It is not a manual or ‘how to do’ book. Like AT Still, van der Post
does not give techniques; osteopathy is not a method. The book is aimed at practitioners, patients and the
public. Keep one in the waiting room. It is a very much-needed book to make us all think and question.
RRP in the UK: £15.99, available worldwide at Amazon and other online outlets.
For bulk enquiries and orders in Australia contact author directly:
missinglinksbook@proton.me
Nick Handoll, DO
Author of Anatomy of Potency

08/03/2025

Lucy Rayner exploring the fascinating multidisciplinary approach to airway health. A great culmination of an inspired day!

08/03/2025

Gilly Woodhouse from Osteobiz inspiring story of supporting Osteopathy and Osteopaths alike.

08/03/2025

Sandy Antunes, in a talk titled “Flow”, discussing Classical Osteopathic principles applied in the aquatic environment.

08/03/2025

Nancy Nunn exploring birth trauma. Inspiring speaker.