Being truly heard is the beginning of the healing journey
Osteopathic Palpation is a profound form of listening.
What does the word ‘palpation’ mean?
To check or examine a person's physical body using one’s hands, most often with the medical intent to diagnose or identify areas of interest, such as dis-ease, injury, to monitor pregnancy, etc. in a way that a visual assessment could not solely identify.
Osteopathic practitioners do not diagnose illness in Canada. Rather, we form a clinical impression based on our assessment findings.
For Osteopathic assessment & treatment, as well as many alternative healthcare workers, we rely on our palpation in order to determine the position of structures, how the body's moving, and the quality of the tissue, among many other things like:
-softness/pliability
-adhesions in fascial layers
-spring (or lack of spring) within all structures
-temperature
-accurate location of anatomical landmarks, muscle and ligament attachments, organs, etc.
-restrictions, blocks, tensions
-mobility of soft tissues & joints
-inflammation/swelling/edema, or dryness, emptiness, lack of fluid flow
-direction from where tension may be arising or anchored
-energetic & fluid vitality within the structure, volume, organ, cranium, person
-held-back or buried emotions
-old injuries
-density, heaviness
Other types of palpation may include using our intuition to gain a sense of the more subtle things that may be present, and we use our mind to logically understand & problem solve the situation.
Why is palpation important?
One of the main reasons that palpation is important is for safety. Whether it's that treatments are applied in the right location, to the correct depth, within individual's pain tolerance, etc., accuracy in this regard is determined by the practitioner's palpatory skills.
Another major reason palpation is important is that we use it to differentiate between what we're feeling, so that we have the best information to make our clinical decision-making. This means that we pay attention to what is normal & healthy vs. what is in dysfunction, and then choose how to best proceed.
We learned how to differentiate between healthy and dysfunctional tissues by investing 7 years of hard work into our schooling at the Canadian College of Osteopathy in Toronto. Classes were heavily based on learning anatomical interconnections throughout the body, how the body's systems work together, how every joint moves on its' neighbouring joints, how layers of fascia wrap around different organs, what cranial rhythms feel like, and so much more.
In-class practice involved teachers mentoring students, hands-on-hands, on how to properly palpate, identify the correct area & dialogue with the person's body we were working with.
This is where we learned what it meant to listen with our hands.
There is so much inherent value in many alternative healthcare practices, so as practitioners, it is our duty to learn to listen better so that we can provide the best care for our patients.
Our Osteopathic palpation has taught us to be aware of so many things, and to truly pay attention. It helps guide us toward:
-specificity of treatment (are we working where we think we’re working?)
-being more in tune with our patients, which helps them feel heard, understood & taken care of
-more effective outcomes because treatments are applied specifically to the underlying cause
-awareness of tissue change
-completeness of tissue release
-a better understanding of each person's uniqueness
-patience to allow the patient’s body to decide when the change is complete
Knowing that you have been truly heard is the beginning of the healing journey for so many.
Learning to listen with our hands as well as our ears, mind & intuition is a sign of growth as a practitioner;
we must remember that treatments are not about us, but about being of service to others.
Comments