The Canadian Academy of Osteopathy offers a comprehensive four-year program that equips you to deliver safe, effective, and targeted treatments to patients. To do so, we’ve designed a curriculum that goes deeper than the practical techniques of osteopathy. Instead, we take a principles-based approach; students gain a true understanding of osteopathic principles and theory, with the clinical competency to apply those principles in their careers.
You’ll gain expertise in a variety of areas, such as osteopathic anatomy and physiology, osteopathic history and theory, principles in practice, and more. With over 4400 hours of clinical and classroom training, we teach it all at CAO. Keep reading to learn what to expect from the curriculum at our osteopathy college!
Build a Foundation in Osteopathic Principles
Osteopathy is its own branch of healthcare with a long history behind it. At CAO, we respect this tradition by teaching osteopathy as a profession in and of itself rather than as an ‘add-on’ to other modalities. That involves teaching students the founding principles of the practice. These principles govern the ‘who, what, where, when, and why’ behind osteopathic assessment and treatment.
First and foremost, osteopathy acts as a complementary therapy alongside conventional medicine. Rather than using medicines to cure the symptoms of the body, osteopathy focuses on aligning the layers of the structure of the body through non-invasive manual therapy. This is based on a belief in the body’s ability to self-heal and self-regulate, which is why an Osteopathic Manual Practitioner does not see themselves as a healer but instead as a facilitator of health.
At CAO, you’ll learn how to break down your findings into these natural principles–so you won’t have to memorize techniques from a book to know when to use them.
Examine Anatomy & Physiology Through an Osteopathic Lens
A good working knowledge of health sciences is an important part of osteopathy. But at CAO, we move away from the traditional allopathic model and toward a fully integrated osteopathic model that examines the body as a whole dynamic body of function. This model emphasizes the relationship between the many structures and systems of the human body.
Throughout your training at osteopathy college, you’ll focus on facilitating the health of joints and muscles with the goal of returning the body to a state of normal health. With an in-depth understanding of osteopathic anatomy and osteopathic physiology, you’ll be ready to treat the layers of the body on a personalized, individual level.
Develop a Mind for Osteopathic Thinking at Our Osteopathy College
As explained above, osteopathy is a completely new way of thinking about the body and approaching physical problems. Delivering effective treatments to clients requires you to adopt the right mindset when problem-solving and working with physical challenges.
Rather than looking for symptoms and finding ways to alleviate them, osteopathy seeks the underlying cause of the problem. It requires you to think beyond the obvious signs of pain and examine how the whole body may be affected. If the self-healing and self-regulating mechanisms of the body are being obstructed, it is your job to remove that obstruction using manual therapy. Rather than searching for illness, osteopathy requires you to think about how you can revitalize areas where health is affected.
At CAO, you’ll develop a mind for this approach during our classroom labs and put that mentality to practice in our clinical lessons.
Are you ready to prepare for your osteopathy specialization?
Contact the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy today!