After years of waiting, decrees and regulatory steps, osteopathy officially enters the Italian National Health Service. With the publication in the Official Journal of the decree on the criteria for the equivalence of professional qualifications, the path started by Law 3 of 2018, which recognized the figure of the osteopath as a healthcare profession, finally comes to an end.
A historic turning point for thousands of professionals in the sector and, potentially, also for millions of patients who already rely on osteopathy for musculoskeletal disorders, chronic pain, postural problems and rehabilitation programmes.
Until now, osteopathy in Italy had remained in a sort of regulatory limbo: very widespread in clinical practice, but without full healthcare recognition. With this latest decree everything changes: the osteopath becomes in all respects a recognized healthcare profession, with an enabling university course, official criteria for the recognition of qualifications already acquired and inclusion within the healthcare system.
In practice, now, a process that began over ten years ago and which has gone through various stages is completed:
Today we celebrate a moment that will remain engraved in the history of our profession – declared Mauro Longobardi, president of the ROI, Registry of Osteopaths of Italy. According to which formal recognition also represents a necessary choice “to defend the very existence of osteopathy as an autonomous profession, recognized and fully integrated into the healthcare system”.
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Entry into the NHS inevitably reopens the scientific debate on osteopathy. In recent years, several studies have highlighted benefits especially in the treatment of some musculoskeletal disorders, such as low back pain, neck pain and chronic pain, while the effectiveness for other conditions remains more controversial.
Precisely for this reason, healthcare recognition could also have another important effect: promoting greater control, more rigorous training standards and better integration with traditional medicine and multidisciplinary rehabilitation programmes.
For patients, however, the innovation could translate into greater professional protection and the possibility, in the future, of seeing osteopathy increasingly integrated into public prevention and rehabilitation services.
