Membership of Israeli Osteopathic Association:
An osteopath practicing in Israel should be a member of the Israeli Osteopathic Association (IOA). Always ask to see their membership certificate. Membership indicates that the osteopath is sufficiently qualified with a 4 year full time degree in osteopathy, has professional indemnity insurance, works to a code of ethics and is bound by disciplinary procedures.The Israeli Osteopathic Association aims to maintain high standards of osteopathic practice in Israel, thereby protecting the public from unqualified practitioners. Avoid osteopaths who are not fully qualified and are not members of the Israeli Osteopathic Association.The Israeli Osteopathic Association is working with Misrad Habriut (Health Ministry) defining who in Israel may legally call themselves osteopaths.

What is Osteopathy?

Osteopathy (Osteopathic Medicine) was founded in the U.S.A. some 120 years ago and to date, there are 19 Osteopathic teaching hospitals in the U.S. as well as statutory recognition of the profession in Britain, France and Australia.

From its inception, Osteopathy has played a leading role in emphasising a patient-centred rather than symptom focused approach to medicine.

Throughout this long period of time it has continued to develop and refine especially those clinical methods of treatment that effectively promote the body's innate ability to heal itself.

Futhermore, Osteopathic Medicine has consistently encouraged the appreciation that treatment and recovery from illness require a partnership of effort between physician and patient, while the maintanance of health and prevention of disease necessitate a life-style that pays due attention to the essentials of diet, exercise, hygiene, relaxation and mental wellbeing.

These very same conditions that are considered essential to maintain health are also recognised to be some of the most effective modes of treatment, often reducing the need for medication or surgery.

But perhaps Osteopathy's most unique contribution to modern medicine has been its appreciation of the intimate two-way relationship, both in health and disease, between the anatomy and mechanics of the body and its internal function and physiology.

By way of the most careful observation and palpation, Osteopaths have recorded the frequent expression of disease and illness in the musculo-skeletal system, not least in and around the spinal column. They have also observed that precise, gentle and skilled osteopathic manipulative methods of treatment to these areas may relieve pain, restore function and provide a powerful stimulus to the body's immune system.

The use by Osteopaths of skilled manual treatment has earned the profession an enviable reputation for success in helping those suffering from many orthopoedic and rheumatological conditions. However, these two fields are but a small part of the range and breadth of health care that Osteopaths provide the sick, injured and infirm, from infancy to ripe old age. by Mervyn Waldman