Comparative Critique: physiotherapy & osteopathy

Jose Montero

Today Osteopathy and Physiotherapy are two of the most prevalent manual therapies. Physiotherapy is practised within concepts of disease employed by the orthodox profession. It is a therapeutic procedure and does not challenge concepts of disease development within the orthodox system. Some physiotherapists may wish to challenge the view of some consultants, for example, as to how effective and useful physiotherapy intervention can be as a therapeutic tool (although the hierarchical arrangement of the orthodox healthcare system makes this difficult in many instances). Osteopathy, being a profession outside the orthodox system, does not have this constraint, and this makes it easier for it to proffer alternative systems, approaches and ideas (Stone 1999).