Dr. Still was determined to consider all of a patient's systems and look for which one of them had broken down, irrelevant of where the symptoms were. For example, if someone had bad bronchitis - it could be from an infection - but why was this patient affected by the infection in the first place? He also believed that our bodies had mechanisms for self-healing. So rather than trying to do something instead of the body - we just need to remove the obstruction which is preventing the body from doing so. Finally, he believed that when the structure of our bodies is altered - it would also alter the function of the given area.
He encouraged all his students to pursue various areas of interest within the osteopathic sphere so long as these basic tenets were satisfied. Thus, over time the specialities of structural, cranial and visceral osteopathy developed. With today's advances in medical care we have been able to enhance what Dr. Still had started in his days, but we still try to keep true to his original concepts.