Some good Facebook Groups, Blogs and Websites

monicanoy.com – Monica Noy is an osteopath based in Canada, I believe, and is a critical thinker.  If you go to her site and click on “painstakings” you will find some interesting things to read, on palpation, the state of osteopathy, and research amongst others.

London Osteo CPD Facebook page  Kiran runs this well, often something interesting on there, not just about CPD.

Osteopathy Discussion Group  This is, I think, largely an Australian Facebook page.  It has lots of lively discussion and many British members.  You can tap into some interesting debate.  The place to post about cognitive dissonance rather than anti-vacc.

Osteopathic Research Web. Perhaps we have more research than we realise.  This is a user friendly apple-green themed database of more than 600 dissertation abstracts.  It was set up in 1999 by the Vienna School of Osteopathy.  (Images of dancing horses and Mozart chocolates have entered my head). The BSO, ESO and BCOM are well represented here, along with the Vienna, Barcelona and other schools.  

freud and fashion  – I was reading this American psychiatrist’s blog on and off for a while, and wondering how she had found mine, and indeed why she liked some of the posts, and then I discovered she was a DO.  Yes, they’re different in America, but not that different, and I wondered if that’s why I related to her.  She is a really good writer, very honest and personal, takes a great photo, and I learnt more about osteopaths in America from clicking on her photo and getting some background than I ever knew before.

Osteopathic History

Autobiography of AT Still – The life story of osteopathy’s founder, straight from the horse’s mouth.  If you liked Little House on the Prairie, you’ll love this.  Get a sense of what life was like for the young Still.  You will also learn about his superstitious nature, his spiritualism, his visions, his humanity and his originality.  Only about £1.50 on kindle!  I paid about £30 for a hardback copy ten years ago.  Robbed!

Frontier Doctor Medical Pioneer: The Life and Times of A.T. Still and His Family – by Charles E Still, Junior – An interesting account by a descendant of Still.  Apparently he was often mistaken for a janitor, and would always wear what I think from memory was called a slouch coat.  No pristine clinic coat for Still.   A couple of fascinating glimpses into how Still actually treated people towards the end of his life.  He chastised someone for using forceps to deliver a baby instead of “switching on the ovarian artery”, and treated one person by sitting next to the couch, eyes shut, for a very long time before making one swift adjustment.  Only about £7 on kindle at time of writing.

Norman Gevitz’s book “The DOs: Osteopathic Medicine in America – recommended by John O’Brien, who has a keen interest in the study and practice of history – as the best of four osteopathic histories he read.

Osteopathy in Britain, the first 100 years by Martin Collins – has been recommended by Daniel Gerber. (a prolific tweeter)

Sorry I haven’t yet read John Lewis’s new biography of Still, hoping to get round to it soon.