Robert Fulford, D.O. and the Philosopher Physician

Robert Fulford, D.O. (1905-1997) was an important, if enigmatic, figure in late twentieth-century osteopathy. Trained at the Kansas City School of Osteopathy and Surgery (class of 1941), he was a strong believer in the "triune" nature of man---physical, mental, and spiritual---and the importance of diagnosing and treating the whole person, not just the physical symptoms.

Dr. Fulford's career was a testament to this ideal, what A.T. Still called the philosopher physician. In the mid-1940s he studied cranial osteopathy with William Garner Sutherland and became a lifelong member (and one-time president) of The Cranial Academy. During the course of a practice that spanned six decades he explored a wide spectrum of scientific and philosophical ideas about the basis and mechanics of life. Nothing was off limits---field theory, Aryuvedic medicine, biomagnetics, psychological and subtle energy medicine, crystals. Always he followed Sutherland's advice to "dig on," integrating whatever was useful into the practice of what he termed "twenty-first century medicine."

Robert Fulford, D.O. and the Philosopher Physician is both an intellectual biography and a practical introduction to Dr. Fulford's methods of diagnosis and treatment. In addition to tracing the principal figures and ideas that influenced his thought, there are sample protocols of Fulford's history-taking, physical examination and general treatments, and exercises for learning to discern the human energy field ("etheric body") and treating with "intention."