Investigating connections between the physical and metaphysical

Welcome to PhOst, a new space for the Philosophy of Osteopathy.

What is PhOst?

Currently in its infancy, the PhOst | Philosophy of Osteopathy initiative, aims over time to build a credible and informative repository of resources on:


  • Evidence-informed osteopathy
  • Qualitative healthcare research methods 
  • Phenomenology as a philosophy and research method
  • Hermeneutics of healthcare practice
  • Embodiment and enactivism in healthcare research and practice

PhOst's origins

Dr Mandy Banton created the PhOst│Philosophy of Osteopathy project as a forum for ideas about the practice of osteopathy and other forms of bodywork and therapy.

"My hope is to develop an accessible set of resources including research, commentary and debate for clinicians, educators, students and patients who are interested in the philosophical context of osteopathy."

PhOst promotes the ontological exploration of health and osteopathic practice, to investigate the epistemological claims underpinning healthcare curricula, and to consider the ethical and political implications of an evolving interest in the philosophical underpinnings of healthcare practice.

The PhOst Blog

Pen sketch of sacrum

18. Hermeneutic Healthcare: Osteopathic Reflections - Theory & Practice

By Dr Mandy Banton • April 25, 2022
In this post, I share a monologue I wrote while coming to understand the implications of using a hermeneutic model in osteopathic practice, particularly when using hands-on assessment and treatment approaches. I was thinking about the concept of hermeneutic realism and how it helps me understand what the phenomenological rallying cry, ‘back to the things themselves’ means - and applying this to the Mitsein I share with my patients.
Multitude of mathematic and scientific symbols / icons on a green background

17. Hermeneutic Healthcare: Meaning / Materiality

By Dr Mandy Banton • March 7, 2022
Previously, I have discussed the concept of meaning in hermeneutic healthcare as an ontological partner to being – to have existence is to be engaged in sense-making (with meaning as the property that emerges from the interaction between a being and its environment). In this post, I am going to consider the structure of meaning as it pertains to health, particularly within a healthcare context, by discussing its ontology within two contrasting healthcare models (with an upfront caveat that these models are crude simplifications).
Yin-yang symbol created with 2 pebbles - a white and a black - placed over a swoosh in sand.

16. Reflexive Non-Dualism in Research

By Dr Mandy Banton • February 21, 2022
The benefit of a non-dualistic ontological stance is that it liberates the phenomenologist from the constant challenge of having to agree that there is a distinction between internal things and external things, and in their manner of appearance to human consciousness.

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Media resources ...coming soon

Listen to Mandy Banton in conversation with scholars, teachers and academics as they debate trending topics in the field.

Watch Mandy Banton present ideas in a visual format, in a series of short videos.

Access recordings and notes from Mandy Banton's philosophy of osteopathy lectures. Read Dianna Harvey's review of Mandy's Rollin Becker Memorial Lecture 2021.

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