Thirty Years On: Reflecting with the Class of 1996

Last week, I had the pleasure of reconnecting with a handful of colleagues from my osteopathy training — the Class of 1996. Three decades on from those early days of learning palpation, anatomy, and the philosophy that shapes how we practice, it was a genuine joy to sit down together again.

What struck me most wasn’t how much things have changed, though of course they have — new research, new techniques, new expectations from patients — but how much of the spirit we started with is still there. The same curiosity. The same commitment to treating the whole person, not just the symptom in front of us.

We swapped stories about the clinics we’ve built, the patients who’ve stayed with us over the years, and the ways our approaches have evolved. A few of us have moved into teaching, passing on what we learned to the next generation. Others have specialised in areas none of us could have predicted back in 1996. And a few are still doing exactly what drew them to osteopathy in the first place: hands-on, patient-centred care.

Reunions like this are a reminder of how far a shared foundation can carry a career. Thirty years of practice, thousands of patients, and countless small moments of helping someone move a little easier — it all traces back to those first classrooms.

Here’s to the next thirty.