Restore Balance and Musculoskeletal well being.

Richard L. Van Buskirk, D.O., Ph.D.
2900 S. Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, FL 34239
(941) 924-1729


Dr. Van Buskirk In The News
 

Dr. RICHARD VAN BUSKIRK, DO, PhD, FAAO

 Recovering The Still Technique:

A Crowning Achievement

Richard Van Buskirk came to the medical field later in life. After receiving a PhD in Neuroscience from Duke University, he was an associate professor and did basic science research in neurophysiology and neuroanatomy for a number of years before deciding to go to medical school at age 36.

He graduated from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine in 1987, followed by an osteopathic family practice residency. He is a Fellow in the American Academy of Osteopathy (FAAO), one of about 70 FAAOs in the United States and one of only half a dozen in Florida.

Dr. Van Buskirk has published significant articles, including Journal of American Osteopathic Association articles on “Nociception and the somatic dysfunction” in 1990 and on the Still Technique in 1996, earning the journal’s first editor’s award. He was a section editor and author for the osteopathic textbook, Foundations for Osteopathic Medicine, and later published The Still Technique Manual in 1999.

Dr. Van Buskirk is credited with recovering and redeveloping the original osteopathic manipulative method used by the founder of Osteopathic Medicine, Andrew Taylor Still, M.D.

Recovering the Still Technique was his crowning achievement as a neurophysiologist. “In medical school, the story was that everyone knew Dr. Still was a brilliant manipulator but no one knew what he did,” Dr. Van Buskirk explains. There was a common assumption that Dr. Still never wrote a technique book. However, he did bury descriptions of manipulation in his general books on the philosophy and principles of osteopathy, and his students also wrote down their observations, including Charles Hazzard, DO. Based on those writings, Dr. Van Buskirk was able to compile and recover the Still Technique. 

Dr. Van Buskirk has been practicing in Sarasota for 19 years, starting out in family practice and becoming more specialized as his practice evolved. He recently moved to a new location at 2900 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, giving him the opportunity to associate with an acupuncturist and a clinical psychologist, also on the premises.