An osteopathic clinic is a place where the osteopath treats his patients, since there are a lot of in house procedures the clinic requires a well equipped room to carry out all the procedures. Osteopathic practice involves many manual procedures which are to be carried out at the clinic by the osteopath, both cranial and visceral osteopathy involve many manipulative procedures.
Cranial osteopaths are trained to feel certain subtle changes that take place through out the head and the body. They call this process the cranial rhythm, this movement is very subtle and takes highly skilled pratitioners to feel the rhythm.
Visceral osteopath on the other hand is the harmonic rhythm of all the visceral organs, the theory is that both viseco-somatic and somato-viceral connections exist in the body and when there is an imbalance between any of these organs there is disease.
All the procedures are conducted in a room at the clinic and these are combined with other therapies like acupressure and holistic healing.
In australia the profession is recognised as an allied branch of medicine and three of australias top universities offer courses in osteopathy. These courses have a bachelors degree in clinical sciences followed by a masters degree.since osteopathy has been made a part of the university curriculum the scope of osteopathy as a profession has increased greatly, the funding for studies and research has also incresed as the profession gets more popular. Osteopathic medical schools give enough practice in clinical area to all their students to be able to set up their independent clinics as soon as they are put of their internships. Theaustralian osteopaths association helps all the young members to set shop and increase their network. The osteopathic medical centre is considered by some as a alternative medicine clinic, but as long as it benefits people it can be called anything.