The Osteopathic College of Provence

The practice of osteopathic medicine was recognized by the French National Assembly on 4 March 2002, by legislative act n°2002-303 relative to patients’ rights and quality of health care. Implementation decrees numbers 2007-435 and 437 of 25 March 2007 established osteopathic codes of practice and the requirements for receiving a French diploma which include 6 units in basic science and 3 units in osteopathic medicine.

The law and decrees fixed the educational criteria at a minimum of 2660 hours/3 years post high school graduation training The Osteopathic College of Provence is committed to training high level practitioners, and maintains a 5000 hour program organized into 5 years (300 ECTS) plus a 6th year of clinical and therapeutic advanced training.

Details of the program are in the course catalogue.
Osteopathy is now recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) for its contribution in health maintenance.

The Osteopathic College of Provence was among the very first establishments approved by the Ministry of Health, Youth and Sports (publication in the Official Journal on 17/08/2007), and is entitled to deliver a diploma in Osteopathic Medicine.

Osteopathy

- Concept
	Established in the United States in 1874 by Dr. A.T. STILL, osteopathy is an art of healing, a science and a technology. The principal rules of osteopathy were defined by STILL as: - Mobility is the very expression of life. - The human being is one unit. - There is a permanent reciprocal interrelation between structure (the human frame) and function (organs providing vital functions). - The body contains all the tools to heal itself. Osteopathy is the art of diagnosing and treating dysfunctions in the human body’s tissue mobility. Osteopaths find the cause of illness in disturbances or restrictions of the human body’s mobility.



- The practice of osteopathy e
Before beginning a specific osteopathic treatment, the practitioner must first confirm that the patient’s pathology can be treated with osteopathy, i.e. functional medicine. He performs a diagnosis of exclusion. Next the practitioner performs an osteopathic examination and assesses the mobility of the various parts of the body to identify dysfunctions. He then restores mobility, using only one tool: his hands (no prescription). Osteopathy is a “hands on” medicine that favours the body’s autoregulatory functions. It requires a perfect knowledge of anatomy and physiology for precise, non-violent manipulative techniques.



- Diploma in Osteopathic Medicine -
The practice of osteopathic medicine was recognized by the French National Assembly on 4 March 2002, by legislative act n°2002-303 relative to patients’ rights and quality of health care. Implementation decrees numbers 2007-435 and 437 of 25 March 2007 established osteopathic codes of practice and the requirements for receiving a French diploma which include 6 units in basic science and 3 units in osteopathic medicine. The law and decrees fixed the educational criteria at a minimum of 2660 hours/3 years post high school graduation training The Osteopathic College of Provence is committed to training high level practitioners, and maintains a 5000 hour program organized into 5 years (300 ECTS) plus a 6th year of clinical and therapeutic advanced training. Details of the program are in the course catalogue. Osteopathy is now recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) for its contribution in health maintenance. The Osteopathic College of Provence was among the very first establishments approved by the Ministry of Health, Youth and Sports (publication in the Official Journal on 17/08/2007), and is entitled to deliver a diploma in Osteopathic Medicine.