The American doctor Dr. Andrew Taylor Still (1828 - 1917) developed a new understanding of health and illness in the second half of the 19th century, viewing people as a unity of body, mind and soul.

After intensive anatomical studies, he was convinced that humans, as part of creation, carry all possibilities of recovery within themselves. The prerequisite for this was good mobility and dynamism in all areas of the body. He saw a prominent role in the supply and disposal of tissue through blood and lymph fluids with intact nerve supply. The aim of his examination and treatment was therefore to use his hands only to detect movement restrictions in the tissue, to eliminate these and then to allow the body to heal itself with improved internal mobility.

A corresponding sentence from Dr. Quoting for this is still: "Find it, fix it, leave it". He introduced this new approach to the treatment of people as a new form of medicine (osteopathy) to the public in 1874 and founded the American School of Osteopathy (now the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine) in Kirksville, Missouri, USA in 1892.

His osteopathy was very popular. In the first half of the 20th century, it was legally recognized in more and more states. New colleges sprang up and trained more and more students to become osteopaths. At the same time there were massive efforts by the medical associations to limit osteopathy. This dispute was only resolved in the 1960s. Since then, osteopathy has been recognized as generally accepted in the USA, and the study of osteopathy is a full academic education.

There are currently more than 20 state-recognized osteopathic universities in the United States. Today about 54,000 osteopaths practice their own profession in the USA. They hold the title D.O., Doctors of Osteopathy, and are equivalent to medical doctors (MD). This is why osteopaths in the USA prescribe medication, injections and operate. Osteopaths and doctors work together in American hospitals.

In Europe osteopathy developed differently. A student of Dr. Stills, the Englishman Dr. John Martin Littlejohn, brought osteopathy to the old continent. Here osteopathy developed further as a purely manual form of medicine. In London, Dr. Littlejohn founded the British School of Osteopathy, which still exists today. There are currently three universities of applied sciences in England to study osteopathy. The osteopath has been a legally recognized health profession there since 1993. In Belgium and France, osteopathy is one of the generally recognized forms of medicine. Osteopathy is practiced in almost all European countries.

Other osteopaths continued to develop the concept of osteopathy, mainly dealing with the musculoskeletal system, i.e. bones, joints, muscles and tendons, against the believe that only free mobility of these can guarantee a free supply of tissues. A student of Dr. Still, Dr. William Garner Sutherland (1873-1954) studied the anatomy of the skull, especially the sutures and their shape, for many years. In 1939 he presented the phenomenon after the primary respiratory movement. This is a very fine, independently pulsating movement. It can be felt on the skull, on the coccyx but also on other structures of the body and is not related to heartbeat or breathing.

From then on, the primary respiratory movement was an important instrument for diagnosis and therapy for osteopaths. Sutherland expanded osteopathy to include osteopathy in the cranial area. Osteopathy received an additional addition in the 1980s. The French osteopaths Jean-Pierre Barral and Jacques Weischenck deal extensively with the internal organs and how these can be examined and treated osteopathically and expanded osteopathy with the so-called visceral area.

In the 1950s, osteopathy was practiced by doctors and alternative practitioners who had learned osteopathy primarily in America and England. The actual spread of osteopathy did not begin until the late 1980s. Osteopathy schools, mainly from France and Belgium, founded German branches where doctors, alternative practitioners and physiotherapists still learn osteopathy while working.

In Germany, training takes place mainly in private schools. There are now more than 20 schools that teach osteopathy at around 70 different locations, mostly as part-time training.