Osteopathy is based on the practitioner’s sensations got through palpation. The challenge in teaching palpation is to develop the sensibility of students along with the integration and discrimination of all the information obtained through palpation in order to optimize the diagnosis and to adapt best practice. In this context, palpation needs to be taught all along the osteopathic academic courses. Indeed, palpation represents the essential link between applied sciences (biomechanics, anatomy…) and osteopathic practice. The CIDO has developed a specific academic program based on the progression of the student’s sensations. It consists on studying the human, from its depth to its external envelope and individual background, treating the hard parts before the smooth, elastic, body parts and observing and learning body structures prior to their functions. This program relies systematically on palpation and handling in order to guide the student in the development of his practical skills. Besides, as palpation or gestural education appears to us as being a specific class, it is taught specifically integrating the notion of discrimination, calibration and validation of one’s sensations. The aim of this presentation is therefore to expose this specific academic program, its concept, its structure, and its academic courses illustrated with practical situations aimed at optimizing the student’s sensation. Through this education, the hand becomes more than the simple interface with the environment but a highly reliable tool for the osteopath.

Osteopath DO BSc in Osteopathy, Upper Second Class Honours, European School of Osteopathy of Maidstone 2005, University of Wales Post graduate course: developing palpation (osteopathy in the cranial field); pediatric and obstetrical osteopathic care;neuro-sensitive facilitation in children; volunteer as an osteopath for children with special needs Clinic Tutoring and Teaching gesture and palpation at Cido since 2007