Jean-Paul Höppner

In 1987 I did two supplementary semesters in anatomical dissections at the free university of Brussels where I graduated Summa Cum Laude with congratulations of the jury. It gave me the opportunity to become pro-sector at the department of morphology and experimental anatomy under the supervision of professor Clarijs. I left the department in 1995.

In 1992, in cooperation with professor Cabri from the free university of Brussels and technical university of Lisbon, my colleague Max Girardin DO and I started a special anatomical program at the Rupprecht-Karls university of Heidelberg. Today, under our supervision, young osteopaths from all over Europe still benefit from this opportunity to complete their practical studies of anatomy with a capital A, meaning: dissection, human embryology and histology.

From 1994 till 2000 I gave lectures concerning anatomy, human embryology and osteopathy in practice at the College Sutherland in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany.

Since 2005 I am an EVOST fellow. EVOST, which stands for “Evolutionary Medicine in the Osteopathic Field”, is a think tank for osteopathic philosophy and Form in general. For me human embryology is an important part of morphology and Form. It is the fundamental basis for anatomical study.

My interests in the significance of Form has lead me to the concept of professor Blechschmidt. As a native German the original writings of Blechschmidt are accessible to me. Persistent work and an inquisitive mind for more than 20 years in this field has opened a complete set of new perspectives on the meaning of Form to me.

Studying the writings of doctor Still and those of professor Blechschmidt, brought me to draw the conclusion: both are sharing the same views of principles but express them in another style. Since 2002 I give lectures to osteopaths from all over Europe concerning the metabolic patterns of Blechschmidt and their integration in daily osteopathic work. I am convinced that the metabolic pattern for Form are as the chords for a composer, they are the basis for harmonic polarity.