Osteopathy: Research and Practice
Andrew Taylor Still (1828-1917) was the founder of osteopathy. His father was a doctor and Methodist preacher who moved with the American frontier, which meant that Still grew up in Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri and Kansas. After studying medicine with his father, Dr. Still began his own practice in 1854. He and his family were firm abolitionists and he served briefly in the Civil War. After three members of his family died from spinal meningitis in 1864, he became disillusioned with conventional medicine and started his search for a better way to practice. He discovered the principles of osteopathy in 1874. Shortly afterwards he settled in Kirksville, Missouri where he lived for the rest of his life. It was there, in 1892, that he established the first osteopathic school, the American School of Osteopathy.