Osteopathy is a way of treating problems such as back pain by moving and pressing the muscles and bones with the hands. The idea is that if the joints and soft tissue are moved and balanced, the body can ease pain and work better. It is hands-on: you lie on a couch; it is not surgery and not a course of tablets, though a person may still take medicine for other reasons. Back and neck pain are the classic reasons people go. Some doctors accept it as useful for certain aches; some are more doubtful — that argument has been going on for years, and a kind teacher should say so rather than pretend the tidy answer is settled. Though actually, the osteo- in the name makes learners think “bone disease”. Here it is the name of a craft, not the name of an illness. Osteoporosis and osteoarthritis are conditions. Osteopathy is a treatment. The person who practises it is an osteopath.

整骨療法（西方手法治療，不是骨科手術）