An historical perspective on principles of osteopathy

Inconsistencies and other differences between existing sets of osteopathic principles—and the resulting difficulties in comparing and contrasting these principles and in developing new principles—necessitate the creation and preservation of an historical record of their development. Using a timeline framework, as outlined by Philip Latey, DO, the author discusses three subdivisions of osteopathic principle development: original, traditional, and modern. The original period, which ended in about 1910, represents a time in which no single definitive principle or set of principles was agreed upon by the profession. The traditional period, encompassing 1910 to about 1950, consisted of mostly individual and isolated efforts at formulating and justifying principles, with various sets of principles differing in number and nature.The modern period begins in 1953 with the publishing of The Osteopathic Concept and continues for 50 more years. This period is characterized by group efforts at principle development and reflections upon former principles, as well as consensus on the development and adaptation of principles for use within the field of osteopathic medicine in the United States. The set of osteopathic principles that has endured the longest was reworked and reworded by a committee of individuals, primarily osteopathic physicians. This committee worked from a previous document that was also formed by a consensus of mostly osteopathic physicians.