Biodynamics

Biodynamics, or Biodynamic Osteopathy, is directly related to Osteopathy in the Cranial Field (OCF) and was developed by James Jealous, D.O. who practiced Traditional Osteopathy in rural Maine.  Dr. Jealous took the later work of William Garner Sutherland, D.O. who discovered OCF, and emphasized Sutherland’s writings on the power and potency of the cerebrospinal fluid, combined it with embryologic work on Biokinetics by Eric Blechschmidt, Ph.D., and created Biodynamics.  Dr. Kavieff was fortunate to have studied directly with Jim Jealous for several years in New Hampshire and Oregon and considers him an important mentor and influence on his practice of Traditional Osteopathy.

In Biodynamics, the patient’s body becomes the teacher, and the practitioner is the student, in the sense that the physician is in a receptive mode of palpation and listens to and allows the patient’s body to direct the treatment.  Although this may seem strange to some, it is based on sound modern principles of embryology that Blechschmidt introduced which shattered the idea that somehow hundreds of genes just magically directed the developmental changes.  Using slime molds and other sources he showed that form follows function in that movement of fluid fields condense to form structural entities like blood vessels, nerves, bones, etc.  If you interfere with the flow of these fluid fields, you can stop or alter embryologic development.  Therefore, Biodynamics is another example of Dr. A.T. Still’s idea that form and structure are interdependent.