Before the First Treatment
£0.00
How much information does an experienced osteopath actually gather before the very first treatment?
Description
HODA-A™ Clinical Insight Series · Publication 005
Before the First Treatment
Why better assessment matters more than better technique
Dr Jo Abbott, PhD — Clinical Biomechanist · Anatomist · Clinical Nutritionist · Independent Musculoskeletal Researcher
How much information does an experienced osteopath actually gather before the very first treatment? Not just through case history and observation, but through the remarkable sensory system that develops over years of clinical practice — the educated hand osteopathy has always placed at the centre of its identity.
That identity is the profession’s great strength — and its exposure. When osteopathy faces scrutiny around safety, evidence and clinical reasoning, it is palpation, and the judgements built on it, that are being questioned. In this fifth publication of the HODA-A™ Clinical Insight Series, Dr Jo Abbott draws on eight years of doctoral research into the question that scrutiny should really prompt: how do skilled hands become a measurement instrument?
Written for osteopaths, osteopathic manual practitioners and students, Before the First Treatment examines the clinician as instrument — how attention, expectation, hand use and context shape what we feel; why experience alone is not calibration; and why the reliability literature on palpation asks the wrong question first. Its central argument: before we test reliability, we must stabilise the instrument.
Includes written feedback from HODA-A™ Level 1 participants, selected further reading, and an introduction to the Level 1 Perceptual Calibration Certification — including private team cohorts for groups of eight or more, well suited to multi-practitioner practices and teaching clinics.
Format: Free PDF download · 10 pages · may be shared in full and unaltered
Series: HODA-A™ Clinical Insight Series, Publication 005
Published: July 2026 · © 2026 Dr Jo Abbott
Preview
Reviews
Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.
Related products
-
Before the First Obs
£0.00 More InfoAdd to cartHow much information does an experienced nurse actually gather before taking the very first set of obs?
-
Before the First Cranial Contact
£0.00 More InfoAdd to cartHow much information does an experienced craniosacral therapist actually gather before the first moment of contact?
-
Before the First Drill
£0.00 More InfoAdd to cartHow much information does an experienced dentist actually gather before reaching for the very first instrument?
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.