Lectures of Dr. J.M. Littlejohn Volume I

Lectures of Dr. J.M. Littlejohn Volume I

by | Dec 22, 2017 | Bookshop

The Littlejohn Lectures Volume 1

The Littlejohn Lectures Volume I

The Littlejohn Lectures Volume I

John Wernham wrote in his introduction to The Littlejohn Lectures Volume I “The transcription from the lecture room to the printed page is difficult.  Any attempt to reproduce the intimacy of the spoken word to the reader from the silent book can only result in a conglomerate of repetition and the most unfortunate juxtaposition of uncontrolled sentences and ‘asides’ that, to say the least, make for difficult reading.  The only solution to this dilemma is one of compromise between a mere verbatim record and a total reconstruction with some omissions and with some alteration in presentation where the meaning is obscure.  However, in spite of this daunting prospect every effort has been made to preserve the great truths that are enshrined in the old manuscripts and to restore, to some extent at least, the atmosphere of the earlier years of academic osteopathy, without creating an excess of fatigue for the modern student.

The Littlejohn Lectures Volume I edited by John Wernham, begins with the subject Osteopathy in General.   John Wernham writes “The first question is “What is Osteopathy?  Osteopathy is a system of therapeutics based on the theory that many diseases are due to pressure on the vessels, or nerves, by some displaced vertebrae, or some other part of the skeleton, or to a condition of imbalance in the muscles moving around the joint.  The treatment is directed to the mechanical correction, by means of manipulation of the osseous displacement, or muscular imbalance, with a consequent repression of abnormal reflexes, and a restoration to normal of the circulation and the nerve impulses.”

John Wernham further writes “The method of treatment is based on the principle of adjustment.  This is the key to our theory because all adjusted structures contribute their quota to general vital force underlying the correlated activities of the body, the constitutional vitality being the sum total of these correlated activities, and it is when this power fails that we are called in to help restore the vital force to its normal position.  That is to say, the tendency to the normal is the underlying physiological force of the body.  If, and when, lack of adjustment exists within the organism, or its environment, it is our place to recover the lost vital control and assist nature in the return to the normal.”

This publication is available to order from our Online Bookshop:

http://www.johnwernhamclassicalosteopathy.com/product/the-littlejohn-lectures-volume-1/

To read more of “The Littlejohn Lectures Volume I” you can purchase a copy from the JWCCO Bookshop for £30 here: http://www.johnwernhamclassicalosteopathy.com/product/the-littlejohn-lectures-volume-1/

The Life and Times of John Martin Littlejohn

The Life and Times of John Martin Littlejohn

by | Oct 17, 2016 | Bookshop

The Life and Times of John Martin Littlejohn

The Life and Times of John Martin Littlejohn

In his biography The Life and Times of John Martin Littlejohn, published in 1999, John Wernham begins his introduction  “Any attempt to analyse the character of John Martin Littlejohn is confronted with a complex that has no entry and no completion.  He was and remains an enigma.”

This book is a true account by the one man who knew him, lived next door to him, travelled with him, studied under him and spent his lifetime practising, teaching and publishing what Littlejohn taught him — John Wernham.

In The Life and Times of John Martin Littlejohn, John Wernham writes that Littlejohn was “a warm parent and a tough disciplinarian; he was a quiet man, soft-spoken and with a manner that was diffident and sometimes withdrawn to the point of indifference.  Wryly, perhaps, it was often noted that his farewell was a shade more cordial than his greeting and there can be no doubt at all that he was a man who preferred to be left alone.

My first encounter with John Martin was on the cricket field, a family field it must be said and I, being something of a fast bowler at the age of eight years, had reached sufficient renown to show the head of the house something of my true metal.  With all this very much in my mind, I put on every ounce of speed of which my puny arm was capable in the determination to topple the great man’s stumps.  But the batsman retired without losing his wicket and the bowler never completed the over and has never quite made it ever since”.

In The Life and Times of John Martin Littlejohn, John Wernham also wrote “He was orientated to his beloved osteopathy to such an extent that domestic affairs sometimes took second place.  Not that the family lacked the basic necessities of life.  One friend of the family once remarked, ‘If you are feeling down, pay a call on the Littlejohns and you will feel the better for it.’  There were many such friends who took advantage of this American style in hospitality and the house was often bulging with all kinds and types of guests.”

To read more of “The Life and Times of John Martin Littlejohn” you can purchase a copy from the JWCCO Bookshop for £25 here: http://www.johnwernhamclassicalosteopathy.com/product/the-life-and-times-of-john-martin-littlejohn/

 

Dr. J.M. Littlejohn’s Lectures on the Pathology of the Osteopathic Lesion

Dr. J.M. Littlejohn’s Lectures on the Pathology of the Osteopathic Lesion

by | Jul 7, 2016 | Bookshop

Dr Littlejohn’s Lectures on the Pathology of the Osteopathic Lesion

Dr. Littlejohn’s Lectures on the Pathology of the Osteopathic Lesion

The publication of Dr. J.M. Littlejohn’s Lectures on the Pathology of the Osteopathic Lesion commences with The Pathology of the Osteopathic Lesion “The foundation of all disease is some deficiency in the immunising power of the body, and the principles underlying disease therefore are variations from normal in structure and/or function.

Susceptibility to disease depends on the degree of variation from normal in body integrity; the normal resisting capacity of the parts of the body; and capacity of toxins and/or micro-organisms to invade and produce resultant changes in the body, which lay the foundation for degenerative processes.”

In the second section of Lectures on the Pathology of the Osteopathic Lesion, Dr. J.M. Littlejohn writes on the subject of Osteopathic Pathology: “Pathology is obstructive or irritative conditions, resulting in disturbed structure or function. This result secondarily establishes:

1. Abnormal blood, i.e. malnutrition; or
2. Neurosis, i.e. weakening of the functions of the nervous system or a part of it.”

Dr. J.M. Littlejohn further writes in this section: “The fundamental characteristic of the body is harmony and equilibrium in the organism. If the latter is normal there is no struggle for life among the different parts of the body, each being a unity in itself which consists of co-operation among fibres, cells, tissues and fluids, each of which derives its value from the place it occupies and the work it does in the organism. Hence, the body is not a colony of cells but an organism in which all cellular elements are united together each cooperating with the other to form the unity of the body. Hence if one part of the body is in revolt (disease) then all other body forces must be used to end the revolt”.

To read more of “Dr J.M Littlejohn Lecture’s on the Pathology of the Osteopathic Lesion” you can purchase a copy from the JWCCO Bookshop for £15 here: http://www.johnwernhamclassicalosteopathy.com/dr-j-m-littlejohns-lectures-on-the-pathology-of-the-osteopathic-lesion/

Notes on Dr. J.M. Littlejohn’s Principles of Osteopathy

Notes on Dr. J.M. Littlejohn’s Principles of Osteopathy

by | Apr 21, 2016 | Bookshop

Notes on the Principles of Osteopathy Front

Notes on Dr. J.M. Littlejohn’s Principles of Osteopathy

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By registering on this website you will be able to read this publication (Notes on the Principles of Osteopathy) and other publications free of charge.

Notes on Dr. J.M. Littlejohn’s Principles of Osteopathy, John Martin Littlejohn writes: “In discussing the theory of the treatment of disease we must differentiate between the condition of disease and the state of disease.  If treatment is to be successful it must be based on the relation of cause and effect and the diagnosis must cover every aspect and sequence of that relationship.  We deal with vitality as the sum total of all the activities of the body, and we distinguish between health that is vital and that which is merely nutritive.  Here are included:  (1) The supply of materials on a nutritive basis; (2) the power of reception and rejection of the proximate principles so provided, and (3) the power of assimilation to its own substance after the body has received, digested and absorbed the food materials.  In vital health, however, we have to consider: (4) the adjustment of all the different parts of the body on a structural basis, and (5) the adjustment of all the functional activities of the body on the basis of vitality.

“Vital unhealth as distinguished from vital health means that some impairment or deficiency is present in any one or more of these five points.  This disturbing element is expressed in the term ‘Osteopathic Lesion’ which, in its widest sense, may have its origin in the food supply; in the power to receive or assimilate and in the structural or functional activities of the body.  Disease is an effect and not a cause.  It is an effect from the disturbed vital health and the state that we call disease is always a result of a previous condition of un-health.  If we take disease as a starting point and attempt to trace it backwards, there are three topics which emerge for discussion, namely, the Etiology, Symptomatology, and the Effects, or results of disease.”

In the Notes on Principles of Osteopathy, Dr. John Martin Littlejohn further writes about the Principles of Treatment where he states that…..“Osteopathic work is palliative or curative.  Palliative treatment aims at the mitigation of pain, or the relief of some inflammatory condition, exudation, accumulation, etc.  It is accomplished mainly by the relaxation of muscular contractures and through the sensory nerve connections.  The curative work is corrective of irritability, having a three-fold object in view.  All treatment is, or ought to be, directed to the vital force through the property of the irritability of tissue, of which nerve tissue is the most highly irritable.  Every lesion involves some modification in the irritability so that the principles and practice of treatment should appeal to the irritability or to the vital force through the irritability.  In appealing to the irritability we first correct the condition of the muscles, bones, ligaments, nerves, blood vessels and so on in order to alter, or modify the irritability.  Secondly, hyper-irritability at a particular local point is lessened by inhibitory pressure over that point.  The inhibition equalises the impulses of their irritability and distribute them equally among all the different parts of the body, using the vital force as the governing principle of the distribution.  Similarly, equal distribution may be obtained by a moving pressure to stimulate when the irritability is sub-normal.  The curative work appeals more largely to the motor or efferent side of the nervous system. While the palliative work is valuable to check pain and inhibit the excessively stimulated processes which are tending to the pathological condition, the curative work employs the three methods described to restore the adjustment, coordination and cooperation of the structures and tissues through the efferent side of the nervous system.  The corrective appeals to the body as an animated mechanism based on physiological mechanics.”

To read more of “Notes on Dr. J.M. Littlejohn’s Principles of Osteopathy” you can purchase a copy from the JWCCO Bookshop for £10.00 here: http://www.johnwernhamclassicalosteopathy.com/notes-on-dr-j-m-littlejohns-principles-of-osteopathy-centenary-edition/