Women´s Health Perspectives and Osteopathy

Osteopathy as a health-care profession and provider has through its history had a strong interest in women´s health.

This, often neglected aspect of health care, has been approached starting with a person-centered approach based on the principle that the patient is a dynamic unit of functions: body, mind and spirit.

In understanding symptoms, and treating the patient, an emphasis is often given to the anatomic and physiologic unity of the body constituting a positive power for the maintenance of health, and through how the different body systems are unified through the neuroendocrine and circulatory systems.

In this course we will discuss the underlying principles involved in women´s health care perspectives and apply them to common problems in clinical practice such as:

• Vulvodynia
• ·Dyspareunia
• Vaginismus
• Interstitial cystitis
• Endometriosis
• Pelvic congestion syndrome
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Scar-tissue management (example with postmastectomy patients)

We will explore the integrated principles used in assessment and treatment based on:

• Functional anatomy
• Pain physiology
• Systems cross-sensitization (Viscerovisceral, Viscerosomatic and Somatovisceral)
• Pressure regulation and distribution
• Visceral, fascial and fluid components of women´s health disorder

Upon the completion of the course, the participants should be able to apply the content in their clinical practice in meeting the female patient with a variety of clinical conditions, with the theories, assessment strategies and techniques learned in this course.

Programme

DAY 1

• Women´s health in the history of medicine and osteopathy
• Women´s health in context: biology saturated with experiences
• Women´s health conditions as multisystem presentations
• Mechanisms of symptom manifestation
• Systems cross-sensitization
• Inflammation, nociception and pain
• Outlining the osteopathic approach and principles of care
• Functional anatomy: the pelvic bowl

DAY 2

• Functional anatomy and physiology of intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) regulation and distribution
• Key osteopathic principles in the management of IAP
• Assessment of functional units directly and indirectly involved in IAP and its distribution: managing the hypopressive zones
• Integration of the abdominopelvic viscera with the neural, vascular and lymphatic elements directed to specific women´s health conditions

DAY 3

• Principles of scar-tissue management: from wound-healing to manual treatment
• Connective tissues and the lymphatic system
• An endocrine approach to Chapman´s reflexes: the pelvic-thyroid-adrenal syndrome
• Treatment strategies for various women´s health conditions

Timetable

Friday 9th May 2025 - From 9.00 a.m. to 1.oo p.m. and from 2.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m.

Saturday 10th May 2025 - From 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and from 2.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. 

Sunday 11th May 2025 - From 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and from 2.00 p.m. to 4.00 p.m.