Osteopathy is a holistic drug free manual therapy, which focuses on diagnosis, treatment and prevention of musculoskeletal disorders (muscles, bones, ligaments, tendon), visceral/organ related dysfunction and cranio-sacral (head neck spine related injury).
The diagnosis and treatment is done by the sensitivity of the osteopath's hand. There are many sensory neurons present at the tip of the figures which helps the Osteopath to perceive information from the patient body, from the layer of the skin to fascia to the muscle, ligaments, bones, organs and also the fluids or circulation flowing inside the body.
Whenever any of the above structure is affected in terms of movement or stability, it leads to disease. "Disease simply means the body is not at ease." So if any organ, bone or muscle gets affected, it also effect surrounding tissues. So treating just symptomatically or disease part of the body will not harmonize the whole body because the body works as whole unit.
When the structure get affected, its functioning is also altered. The circulation or flow of the fluids is hampered or compromised within the body. So it is important to find out the root cause of presenting symptoms and treat the body as a whole.
The body is not just only operated at the level of bones, muscle, ligaments,fascia,tendon or joints but also by the mind. When body can influence the mind, the mind also has power to influence the body. It is usually said that "A strong mind can carry a weak body but a weak mind cannot even carry a strong body".
So, Osteopathy also take care of emotions of a person by working on tissue memory of the body, relaxing the body and harmonizing it completely.