Osteopathy was founded in the late 1800s by Andrew Taylor Still, an American physician and surgeon who viewed the body as having the natural ability to recover from ill health when functioning effectively

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In other words, the human body is a self-regulatory mechanism; able to regulate and repair itself, and one which will do its best when optimal movement and blood-flow are present.

Prevention is a key element of Osteopathic philosophy, which recognizes that the body is best able to adapt to its environment and recover from injury or illness when musculoskeletal movement, respiration and circulation are optimized.

Still developed an approach that integrated manual techniques to affect body function so as to enable the body to ‘restore health’.

Osteopathy is not a set of techniques, it is a science, an art and a philosophy of health care, based upon sound principles proposed by Hippocrates over 2500 years ago, supported by innovative scientific knowledge, that can make profound changes to a person's health.

Osteopathy came to Britain in 1913, when one of Still’s early students, John Martin Littlejohn, returned from the USA to London to practice.
Together with A.T. Still, he is considered one of the fathers of osteopathic medicine.
He was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1867, where he studied theology, law, medicine and philosophy

Littlejohn established the first osteopathic school in the country, the British School of Osteopathy, in 1917,(now the longest standing school of osteopathy in Europe) and served as Dean of the School for 40 years. This university continues to provide what is recognised  globally as amongst the best training in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine available.
 Graduates of the BSO (now called 'University College of Osteopathy') have helped to profoundly influence the development and future of osteopathy in the UK and worldwide, as practitioners, educators, researchers and representatives of the profession.