Health professions, osteopathy degree course launched

The recognition of osteopathy as a health profession and as a degree course has been hindered somewhat by bureaucracy and changes in government, and somewhat by the sceptical and uncooperative attitude of other health professions that have not looked favourably on this development. "The recognition of the health profession has helped to bring order, also in the communication to citizens, and to clarify the role of each professional profile," adds Sciomachen, who emphasises how over the years interest has grown on the part of the population in using the services offered by the osteopath. "A need has probably been met, a gap has been filled, with a clinical approach that puts the person with his or her needs at the centre, rather than the specific symptom, seeking to establish a balance to create greater health potential. Alone, of course, osteopathy,' Sciomachen concludes, 'does not solve all problems, but in a context of collaboration with other health professionals it can make a valuable contribution'.

Along with the United Kingdom and France, the countries that first spread osteopathy in Europe in the first half of the 20th century, Italy also played its part. In 1982, Eddy Deforest, a Belgian osteopath trained in Paris, settled in Italy and, after two years, founded the first Italian osteopathy school in Milan. In 1988, with a ruling by the Lazio Regional Administrative Court, Italy recognised the osteopathy qualification obtained in Great Britain; the following year the first Italian association dedicated to osteopathy, the Register of Osteopaths of Italy, was founded. In 1993 the first Italian school, the Istituto Superiore di Osteopatia, was founded, which started a five-year course for full-time osteopathic training with apprenticeship.

In 2015, the Cen standard was published, a document shared by the major European associations that represents a step towards alignment with international quality standards in training and practice of the profession, a useful reference basis for the process of recognition of the profession in the various European countries. At the end of December 2017, the Lorenzin ddl (law 3/2018) was approved, which also identifies osteopathy as a health profession in Italy. On 24 June 2021, Presidential Decree 131 transposes the agreement on the professional profile sanctioned in November 2020 between the Government, Regions and Autonomous Provinces, laying the necessary foundations for the definition of the training pathway and related equivalences.

In Europe, the discipline spread unevenly from the United Kingdom where it landed in 1911 with the founding of the British Osteopathic Association. In 1993, the profession was legally recognised and incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon health system and in 1998 the General Osteopathic Council was established, a body designed to safeguard training standards, professional development and user safety. The number of European countries in which osteopathy is recognised is growing. Today, osteopathy is regulated in Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey. In particular, in Denmark, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Malta and Iceland osteopathy is a health profession. In those countries, where it has not yet been regulated, the reference standards for establishing a regulatory framework are those defined by the CEN standard.