History of Osteopathy and A.T. Still, D.O. Videos

April 22, 2024

Daryl Callahan, D.O.

A **post**card of a man sitting on a chair.

Become a Member and access exclusive content!

“Stills Technique” video of A.T. Still’s silent movie performing Stills Technique.

1. This is a silent movie about Andrew Taylor Still performing a manipulative treatment on his front porch, late in his life. This technique would later be described as the “Still Technique.” Andrew Taylor Still (A.T. Still) is the founder of Osteopathic Medicine.

A. T. Still on front porch – explanation of “Still’s Technique”

2. The vignette explains A.T. Still performing the front porch manipulation in a silent movie video from 1915. This manipulation he is performing is believed to be what is now commonly known by Osteopathic Physicians as the Stills Technique.

Put Osteopathy in Dictionary

3. A.T. Still was a stalwart on the distinctiveness of the profession by naming it Osteopathy.

Osteopathy as a System of Care

4. A.T. Still was ahead of his time in many ways, including the concept of individualized treatment plans for each patient and directed to body systems. Eventually, Osteopathy would be defined further as a system of medical care designated as Osteopathic Medicine.

Born in Virginia

5. You can learn more about A.T. Still’s childhood and how the frontier life shaped his education and beliefs. His parents impressed upon him the necessary skills to survive hardship and thrive when most would not.

Martha Still (Moore), mother of A.T. Still

6. A.T. Still is the third-born son and closer to his mother, whom he admired for her mechanical skills and with whom he identified. These skills help him develop a new medical profession.

Abraham “Abram” Still, father of A.T. Still

7. Abraham Still is a circuit-riding Methodist Minister and Physician, and his sons are apprentices under his instruction.

Medical Care of the Time

8. A.T. Still was taught how to practice medicine in the mid-1800s, and we must remember what those days were like. The standards of care were much different than they are today. The medical care of the day in the 1850s was heroic; the treatment may be more likely than not to lead to the cause of death.

John Wesley’s “Primitive Physics”

9. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, favored circuit-riding Ministers who were also physicians with the skill to teach in-home remedies. They often followed the day’s medical care and used Wesley and Benjamin Ross, MD’s teaching to do this.

Pioneer Life

10. There were many hardships on the frontier, and the Still family was heroic in going to the far west of America, into the Territory of Kansas, to minister to and provide medical care to the immigrants and Indians.

First Lesson in Osteopathy

11. A.T. Still, as a young boy, learned how to relieve his headaches. It has been published many times, including in the Foundations of Osteopathy 4th Ed, most recently.

Indians and Slavery

12. The Northern Methodist Church and Southern Methodist Church were split, like 1800s Americans, over the issue of slavery. The Still family was an abolitionist and taught that in church and school lessons.

“Tragic Prelude” by John Curry

13. Indeed, a “Tragic Prelude” is playing out on the frontier of Kansas Territory as many other abolitionists join the Still family, and Kansas is set to become the first “Free State.” This contrasts war and peace when set against the Still log cabin.

Map of Kansas Territory 1857 identifies where the Stills lived

14. Kansas is about to become a state, and the territorial survey shows where the Still family lived on the Wakarusa. In 1861, Kansas became the “First Free State.” This is from the Surveyor General’s Office in Lecompton, Kansas Territory, on 4 July 1857. The mission was located in Section 8, T. 13, R. 21 E, a mile south of Eudora in northeastern Douglas County, Kansas.
Map of Douglas County, Kansas | Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1854-1865

Looking closer at the map of Wakarusa

15. A close look at the Wakarusa Map and Still log home location near the Fish Hotel along the Oregon trail. Western Home Journal By J. Savage “About the middle of the afternoon, we came in sight of Dr. Still’s Methodist Mission, where was a horse-power corn mill, and a building over it. Here, we sheltered ourselves from the rain and camped for the night.” https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/90813/text

Border War starts 1855 at Blanton’s Bridge

16. The Border War starts when Free State Militia confront Pro-slavery Sherriff Jones at Blanton’s Bridge.

The Stills leave a mark in Eudora, Kansas

17. Some remnants of the Still Family remain in Kansas near Eudora and Baldwin Kansas.

Question Slide, time to test your knowledge.

18. The Shawnee tribe had migrated to Kansas as settlement across America pushed them out of the Ohio and Missouri regions.

Elected to the the “First Free State” legislature 1857-59.

19. Andrew Taylor Still is elected to the Kansas Territorial Legislature as a representative of Douglas County.

Legislature Seated by Force

20. This legislature is accompanied by an entourage and military escort, with A.T. Still riding ahead and being challenged by “Missouri Bushwackers.”

A.T. Still’s Life Tragedies

21. A.T. Still’s life is fraught with tragedy. The frontier was a cruel place to be and taught him many hard lessons.

The Civil War “Osteopathy in Danger”

22. A.T. Still has two distinct period of service in The Civil War.

Learn More

The Lost Unit and New Information about A.T. Still’s Military Service.

23. Major Andrew Taylor Still serves his second tour of duty in the Civil War in 1864 as the Field Officer for the 21st Regiment. His brother, James Still, MD, is the Surgeon.

Learn More

A.T. Still’s Disillusionment with the Medical Care of the Day

24. The “heroic methods of the day” was a phrase used to describe the medical care of the 1860’s and A.T. Still was not pleased with the outcomes.

A.T. Still “My Science of Discovery.”

25. A.T. Still’s science was the discovery of the musculoskeletal system and how it provides a structure that affects the function of other body systems.

A.T. Still Find a better way – the birth of Osteopathy.

26. As A.T. Still was finding a better way, he used his mechanical skills to discover that the musculoskeletal system has a “structure and function” effect on the body, much like the engineering concepts used today.

Baldwin, Kansas “The Cradle of Osteopathy.”

27. A.T. Still claimed Kansas as a home for about 20 years from 1853 to 1875, and Baldwin, Kansas, was termed the “Cradle of Osteopathy.”

Question: “Flung the Banner”

28. Why does A.T. Still say he “Flung the Banner” of Osteopathy?

Registers in Missouri as a physician and surgeon – “Flung the Banner in 1874.”

29. A.T. is still contemplating what type of physician he will be on June 22, 1874, as he is now required to register as a physician in 1874.

American School of Osteopathy, founded by A.T. Still

30. A.T. still receives many requests from other physicians to teach them his methods and treatment plans for manipulating the musculoskeletal system.

What famous physician is inspired by Osteopathy?

31. It is elemental, my dear…

William Smith, M.D. and American School of Osteopathy (A.S.O.)

32. William Smith, M.D. joins the American School of Osteopathy as the first faculty in exchange for being the first graduate and obtaining the first diploma as a D.O.

Women in Osteopathy from the beginning.

33. Women have played a large role in Osteopathy from the beginning, as A.T. Still was known to have said the Emancipation Proclamation did not go far enough.

ASO’s First Building and Class Photo 1892

34. The first class was seated in 1892. The facilities were undersized throughout the first several years as the growth and popularity of Osteopathic Medicine grew fast.

The First 5 Women and Jeanette “Nettie” Bowles

35. Jeanette “Nettie” Bolles, D.O., becomes the anatomy instructor right after finishing her education and will be one of the founders of what will become the American Osteopathic Association.

Reconciliation of the Still Brothers.

36. Edward Still is seated on the left side of the photo, James is in the middle, and Andrew is on the right. The three brothers would reconcile later in life.

Advocates like JM Littlejohn sustain Osteopathic Medicine.

37. Osteopathic Advocates sustain the profession through many trying times.

Osteopathic Tenets

38. From the outset, the Tenets of Osteopathic Medicine have remained consistent and similar to those discussed at the profession’s earliest outset.

A.T. Still was resilient and, in the end, revered.

39. In the end, A.T. Still is revered, and as his parents taught him, he was never vengeful.

1914 WWI Goodbye Speech from the front porch

40. A.T. Still, a Civil War Veteran, gives the “goodbye speech” to WWI Soldiers as they leave Kirksville.

Page Citation

Callahan, Daryl. "History of Osteopathy and A.T. Still, D.O. Videos" atstilldo.com, April 22, 2024. https://atstilldo.com/a-t-stills-silent-movie-performing-stills-technique/

Become a Member for Exclusive Content

Navigation

Questions?

Contact

A group of men in uniform puffing smoke.