Can You Feel What I Feel? – a Guest Post by Maria Larrain

To get everyone kickstarted back in to the new academic year, here is a really interesting research piece from one of UCO’s bright sparks, Maria Larrain, who previously guested on osteofm with her essay about placebo.  She looks at the experience of touch in an osteopathic treatment, and the concordance between patient and practitioner. Note:  Research…

Guest Essay by Jo Wildy: The UK Osteopathic Profession -an argument for greater inclusion of “Osteopathy in the Cranial Field”

Introduction This is an edited version of one of 3 articles which you can find on Jo’s website.  It was originally published in Sutherland Cranial Magazine.  Jo spoke most inspiringly at last weekend’s Sutherland Cranial College conference, and I hope that more of her recent work is soon to be given a wider audience. This…

The real benefits of STEP

Having spent a couple of years reading and retweeting numerous homages to exercise, and detailing its immense benefits to patients, I finally had to confess to myself that while I agreed with, approved of, applauded and condoned exercise in all forms, I didn’t actually do much myself.  Just because I stand watching kids play football…

Just what is “magical thinking”?

  I’ve been hearing the phrase “magical thinking” for a few years now, ever since I began to take an interest in what skeptics were saying about alternative medicine.   It’s generally a derogatory term, the ‘magical’ bit seeming to be the antithesis of sensible science, which uses “critical” thinking.(1)  And then just recently, I…

The Placebo Response: Time to come out of the shadows

While I have been gaily writing blogs on any passing topic that piques my interest, I am all too well aware that I can only do this because I stand on the shoulders of all those osteopaths (and other manual therapists)  who spend considerable time and intellectual effort doing the sterling groundwork necessary to create…

How to avoid complaints (part 3)

For me the worst thing about a complaint would be the feeling that someone was aggrieved or felt injured or upset by something I’d done, but going through the Fitness to Practise process would come a close second, and some osteopaths are truly hollowed out by the experience.  It is something to avoid as much…