[NOTE: The following description of general osteopathic treatment comes from a book entitled A Manual of Osteopathy (With the Application of Physical Culture, Baths and Diet) written by E. W. Goetz in 1909.]

General Treatment of the Body.  This is a Combination of Treatments Given Below.... The full treatment is considered a tonic to the general system, stimulating the nervous and circulatory systems.  It requires about twenty minutes.
 
MANIPULATION OF THE CERVICAL REGION IN THE BACK OF THE NECK
 
With the patient lying on his back, place the left hand on his forehead, and the right hand on the muscles in the back of the neck near the spine, in the region of the upper cervical vertebrae, and, while rolling the head away from you with the left hand, pull the muscles of the neck towards you, but not allowing the fingers to slip on the skin, the idea being to stretch the muscles.  Now move the hand down the neck a little and repeat the above movement, and so on down as far as the 7th cervical vertebra ...
 
MANIPULATION OF THE MUSCLES IN THE SIDE OF THE NECK

With the patient on his back, place the left hand on his forehead, and with the other manipulate the muscles of the side of the neck from the angle of the jaw to the collar bone.  While turning the head away from you, draw on the muscles, pulling them towards you without letting your
fingers slip on the skin.

This treatment and the preceding one should be given to both sides of the neck and should be given about three minutes.
 
STRETCHING THE NECK
 
With the patient lying on his back, place one hand under the chin and the other at the base of the skull and pull on the head until the body moves; next, while pulling, turn the head slightly from side to side two to three times.  This treatment frees the circulation in the neck and especially between the vertebrae of the entire spine.
 
MANIPULATING THE MUSCLES AND SPRINGING THE SPINE LATERALLY IN
THE LUMBAR REGION
 
With the patient on his right side, draw up his legs, and place your left hip against his knees and your right hand under his legs, and with the fingers of the other hand work the muscles in the lumbar region, drawing the muscles toward you and not allowing the fingers to slip.  Work from the twelfth dorsal to the fifth lumbar vertebrae.  While drawing on the muscles push the legs against the abdomen.  To spring the spine reach over to the opposite side of the vertebrae and draw them towards you.  Both these treatments should be given on the other side also, having the patient turn over to the left side.  Treat about three minutes.  These movements are valuable in cases of lumbago, lame back, rheumatism, and suppressed menstruation.
 
MANIPULATION OF THE SPLANCHNIC REGION
 
With the patient lying on his right side, let the left arm hand loosely over your left, and with considerable pressure with the fingers work the muscles in the back between the sixth and twelfth dorsal vertebrae, on the side of the spine nearest you, drawing the muscles upward and outward.  Now have the patient turn over to the left side and give the same treatment.

The work on the splanchnics is very important in all diseases of the liver, stomach, kidneys, spleen, small intestines, and the pancreas.
 
FLEXING THE LEG ON THE ABDOMEN
 
For stretching and loosening the ligaments and muscles of the leg and hip, and increasing the circulation.
 
With the patient on his back, take his leg by the knee with your right hand and flex it strongly several times against the abdomen ...
 
MANIPULATION OF THE LEGS
 
Take hold of the patient's ankle with the one hand and the knee with the other, as shown in cut, and turn the foot inward and the knee outward, then straighten the leg, bringing it down with a slight jerk; this should be repeated several times with each leg and every other time turn the
knee inward and the foot outward.

TO SPRING THE LEGS APART

With the patient on his back and the legs drawn up, take hold of each knee and force the legs apart with considerable force.  This stretches the muscles on the inner side of the legs.
 
MANIPULATION OF THE LIVER
 
Have the patient lie on his back, with his legs drawn up, and, standing on his left side, place your right hand underneath the short ribs, and with the left hand press, with a moderate degree of force, well up underneath the floating ribs in front ... and while pulling upwards and toward you with the right hand, press on the liver with your left hand, and draw same towards you, not allowing your hand to slip on the flesh.  Work from the side to the middle line of the body in front.  Manipulate these parts about one minute.
 
MANIPULATION OF THE STOMACH AND SPLEEN
 
The work on the stomach is practically the same as that for the liver ...but on the opposite side of the body.  Manipulate about one minute.
 
DEEP PRESSURE ON EITHER SIDE OF THE NAVEL
 
With the patient on his back and his legs drawn up, place the flat of the hands, with the fingers slightly bent, at the side of the navel towards you and press gently but deeply, and, without allowing the fingers to slip, draw them towards the side of the body on which you stand; repeat several times and then treat the other side in a similar way.
 
MANIPULATION OF THE SIGMOID FLEXURE
 
With the patient on his back and the legs drawn up, work the abdomen with the flat of the hand and the fingers slightly bent, beginning at the sigmoid flexure, where the hand rests as shown in the above cut, and with a deep and firm pressure draw the hand upward towards the head, not allowing the hands to slip; now move the hand upwards a few inches, and pres and draw again, and so on around the abdomen, following the course of the large intestine.

This treatment should take about three minutes.
 
MANIPULATION OF THE SMALL INTESTINES
 
With the patient on his back and his legs drawn up, place the hands near the outer side of the abdomen as shown in the cut, and with the fingers draw the abdomen toward you and push it back again in the opposite direction with the "heel" of the hand, a motion very similar to that of kneading bread, using a moderate degree of pressure, but not enough to make it painful to the patient.  Work here should be done about two minutes.