June 2024 Still Point

Author: Jacob Seeman

Chapter: UIWSOM, Vice President

Description: This essay is a reflection on the four tenets of osteopathy framed through my experience with long distance motorcycle journeys and mechanical upkeep. Yes, kind of like that old book. No, I never read the sequel.

Osteopathy and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

It had finally stopped raining, so at least there was that. I had made it through the forest of the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia a few hours before an old, cheap bolt holding the primary drive sprocket sheared off and turned my beat up, Frankensteined Honda Win 150cc "motorcycle" into a loud, uncomfortable rolling chair. A stop by a roadside snack stand to put in a pin as a quick-fix had afforded me an extra 15 minutes of riding. The small city of Koh Kong, the next closest place to likely have a mechanic's shop, was only 10 kilometers or about 4 miles away, so I hopped off and began to push.

As extensively covered in Robert Pirsig's work "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", the application of the scientific process to automotive work opens up a novel's worth of metaphors for easily applicable life lessons. There's even a fun section on the philosophy of diagnostics. For me personally, a one-time greaseball who spent many hours trying to fine-tune a small dysfunction in order to increase the efficiency of a system, osteopathy's focus on biomechanics as an avenue of treatment was one of the things that drew me to this discipline specifically. As in osteopathy, in the world of automotive mechanics, structure and function are reciprocally interrelated. However, people are not machines. As the very first tenet of osteopathy tells us, the body is a unit, the person is a unit of mind, body, and spirit. That being said, my experience on several long-distance rides that have spanned multiple countries have cemented that these principles are not incompatible. When one is on a ride for weeks on end, multiple hours every day, the machine that turns the pair of wheels is only one component of a larger system that must continue to function to preserve the mind and spirit of the rider. The unit in question no longer reflects just the engine, but includes the decision-making capabilities, experience, and intuition of the operator. Insofar as a combustion chamber needs gas to fire or a piston needs lubrication to turn a crankshaft, a person must be adequately nourished to make rational decisions and be of sufficiently sound mind to maintain vigilant awareness of their ever-shifting conditions. 

While there is more to treating a person than changing an oil filter, there is a great degree of overlap between keeping a mechanical engine running and keeping a human engine running. Besides the simple parallels of a circulatory system driven by a central pump and an electrical system that seems daunting and needlessly complex to all but the most seasoned mechanics (read: neurologists), the necessity of preventative care and a holistic approach cannot be overstated. A well-maintained machine will be less likely to suffer catastrophic failures that require drastic interventions. What is more important is that our patients are the most experienced operators we could ask for. When something doesn't feel quite right or is making a weird noise, it is imperative that we be able to listen and trust their experience and intuition to gain a greater sense for how to address problems and head them off before they become larger systemic issues. 

Some people may say that motorcycles are not capable of self-healing and self-maintenance. To those people, I would say that sometimes a noise goes away on its own and you don't know what changed, but you monitor closely to see if anything comes back. In mechanics, just as in medicine, we take those easy victories and engage in watchful waiting.

The fourth and final tenet of osteopathy is that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that rational treatment is based on understanding of the first three principles. When I made it to the mechanic shop in Koh Kong, I deferred to the older gentleman who had been fixing up slapped-together Honda scooters since he was a teenager. I was a much younger man at the time and thought that I knew everything, but he took the time to walk through the repair with me, pointing out more common points of failure and some dented pieces that could become larger problems. This is to say that throughout our training, we are lucky enough to study under people who have fixed more broken spokes than we can count, and who can differentiate between a low gas tank and a clogged carburetor from three blocks away. We continue to strive to be like them, assimilating an understanding of the multitudes of breakdowns and check-engine lights to help keep our fellow humans safe on the road.