CPD Course Description
This course offers osteopaths a structured framework to deepen their exploration of patients’ bodily experiences through interoceptive touch in cranial osteopathy. It aims to enhance the therapeutic alliance in clinical contexts where biomedical models reach their limits by integrating underexplored perspectives that remain aligned with core osteopathic principles, including Body-Mind-Spirit unity.
Overall Objective
To provide osteopaths with a reflective and practical framework to explore patients’ lived experiences through interoceptive touch based on concrete clinical situations. Grounded in the participants’ perceptual experience, the course draws on neuroscience of perception, medical anthropology, and Indigenous epistemologies that informed early osteopathic thinking. The aim is to examine how therapeutic attitude modulation can influence diagnostic and therapeutic palpation and strengthen the therapeutic alliance.
Specific Learning Objectives
Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:
Keywords
Interoceptive touch ; Cranial osteopathy ; Neuroscience of perception ; Medical anthropology Indigenous epistemologies ; Therapeutic alliance
Key References (pre-course)
Zegarra-Parodi, R. et al. (2025). Indigenous Epistemological Frameworks and Evidence-Informed Approaches to Consciousness and Body Representations in Osteopathic Care: A Call for Academic Engagement. Healthcare, 13(6), 586.
Link | Video abstract
Zegarra-Parodi, R., Baroni, F., Lunghi, C., Dupuis, D. (2023). Historical Osteopathic Principles and Practices in Contemporary Care: An Anthropological Perspective to Foster Evidence-Informed and Culturally Sensitive Patient-Centered Care: A Commentary. Healthcare, 11(1), 10.
Link | Video abstract
Zegarra-Parodi, R. et al. (2024). Epistemological Flexibility in Person-Centered Care: The Cynefin Framework for (Re)Integrating Indigenous Body Representations in Manual Therapy. Healthcare, 12(11), 1149.
Link | Video abstract
Device
Google
Outlook (online)