Abstract

As a manual therapeutic approach that unites the two branches of the profession, osteopathic care must scientifically demonstrate its effects and the success of the service it provides to patients. Osteopathy is a manual medicine in which clinical examination and careful palpation of the patient’s tissues are combined with a systemic view of the person in order to offer an individualized diagnosis and treatment plan. It faces significant challenges.
Unlike other forms of medicine, which have a therapeutic agent external to the practitioner, thereby making the relational effect easier to assess, osteopathy’s therapeutic agent is internal to the practitioner, so the profession is exploring various methodological tools – including quantitative research, qualitative research, and observational studies – to quantify its success and value. As a medicine based solely on human intervention, it struggles to fund its research projects. Despite these challenges, the number of annual publications is gradually increasing, lending greater legitimacy to this complex and individualized field.