06/12/2025
The Swedish Osteopathic Association (Svenska Osteopatförbundet - SOF) Svenska Osteopatförbundet has issued a press release arguing that a strained primary care sector needs more competencies, urging the inclusion of osteopaths.
Osteopaths represent an important resource that currently stands outside the system.
The Challenge Facing Primary Care:
Primary care in Sweden is heavily burdened. The National Healthcare Competence Council reported in 2022 that large parts of the country lack sufficient resources, with shortages in key competencies such as doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists, and occupational therapists. This situation affects both patient accessibility and forces existing personnel to work under pressure, impacting the work environment and patient safety.
Emmelie Hansen, Chair of SOF, states that osteopathy has an important role when healthcare personnel cannot work sustainably.
The Path to Licensing (Regulation):
In its referral response to the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (SOU 2025:63), SOF confirms that osteopaths now meet all requirements for licensing, following the establishment of a new Swedish higher education osteopathy program.
SOF stresses that Sweden is still the only country in the Nordic region without licensed osteopaths, despite the profession being regulated in Norway, Finland, and Denmark.
Licensing would facilitate collaboration, strengthen patient safety, and provide patients with safer access to competent caregivers.
How Osteopaths Can Relieve Pressure:
Osteopaths meet patients daily who suffer from pain, stress-related, and functional problems - conditions that make up a large portion of primary care patient flow. Osteopathy is a manual health profession based on natural sciences such as anatomy, physiology, neurology, biomechanics, and pathology.
Through manual treatment, counselling, and a person-centered approach, osteopaths can:
• Contribute early interventions that prevent long-term issues.
• Strengthen continuity and the patient’s own capacity for recovery.
• Relieve other healthcare professions through complementary interventions.
• Contribute to research and development in musculoskeletal health.
Ms Hansen emphasises that the goal is not to replace any profession but to strengthen the teams in healthcare.
She notes that the question is about quality and safety, not status:
“Regulation is a prerequisite for the patient to know who they are meeting, for the healthcare system to be able to collaborate effectively and for Sweden to utilise the competence that already exists”.
Ultimately, SOF believes that including regulated osteopaths will lead to “shorter waiting lists, earlier interventions, and better cooperation between professional groups” within the healthcare system.
Osteopathy Europe strongly supports the efforts of SOF to achieve regulation in Sweden. We believe the inclusion of regulated osteopaths in public healthcare provision is crucial for easing the pressure that is a reality in primary care across all of Europe.
As SOF Chair Emmelie Hansen states, the goal is not to replace any profession, but to strengthen the teams in healthcare, leading to shorter waiting lists, earlier interventions, and better cooperation between professional groups.
Full press release (in Swedish) here: https://tinyurl.com/496nkyd5
