Home > Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine > Ortho-bionomy

Definition

Ortho-bionomy is a form of therapeutic bodywork, based on the principle that gentle and non-invasive body alignment has a positive influence on physical and emotional disorders.

Origins

Ortho-bionomy was developed in the 1970s by Dr. Arthur Lincoln Pauls, a British osteopathic physician who was also an accomplished martial artist. Pauls was influenced by the principles of osteopathy that state that the function of the body is related to its physical (skeletal) alignment; that proper circulation of the blood and lymph is crucial to health; and that the body contains built-in mechanisms that can be triggered to correct imbalances and diseases. Influenced also by Eastern philosophy, Dr. Pauls searched for a system of healing that was gentle, non-invasive, and that worked with the body's inherent wisdom, rather than using...