Osteopathic manual practitioners use detailed palpatory skills to identify and then gently ease the restrictions or constrictions so the body can function normally.  Osteopathy recognizes that a patient is an integrated whole and when all the body’s components are in balance, a person is complete and in total health. Manual osteopathy is based on 4 basic principles:

1. Each structure in the body supports the body's functions. If a structure is damaged, out of place, or otherwise not working properly, the body will not function at its best.
2. The natural flow of the body's fluids - lymphatic, vascular and neurological - must be preserved and maintained.
3. The human body is the sum of its parts. Its physical, emotional, social, spiritual and cognitive systems don't work independently -they work in harmony.
4. When the body has no restrictions, it has the inherent ability to heal itself.