Osteopathic Principles in Practice.

There is relatively little published about augmenting homeostasis or treating host factors in systemic diseases. This text was written to augment the latter category and stresses the structure and function that are pertinent to this perspective. Without specific knowledge of anatomy and physiology, the osteopathic approach would become too "time consuming" and would not be financially feasible to offer a patient with systemic disease.This text does not propose to replace the many reference texts of medicine and does not include a complete differential diagnosis or a complete treatment plan for the clinical situations that are discussed. Its purpose is to explore selected structural and functional considerations which may produce symptoms or compromise homeostasis. It also demonstrates, by example, clinical application of the osteopathic philosophy in selected situations. Lastly, it attempts to show where osteopathic manipulative treatments can be prescribed as primary or adjunctive modalities available to the D.O. as they assist patients in reaching their maximum health potential.The text encourages the reader to reexamine familiar medical facts, anatomic relationships and physiologic functions from the osteopathic perspective. This perspective can then be carried into the diagnostic and therapeutic decisions which will repeatedly be required of the medical student and the osteopathic physician for the rest of their professional lives.