William Swann, D.O., has started a private medical practice, Health Tapestries, to provide caring, personal consultations and treatments in a calm, unhurried setting. His practice is located in a clinic on his rural Thurmont home.

An osteopathic physician with more than 25 years of experience, Dr. Swann’s private practice will focus on diagnosing and treating health issues where people have not found relief or understanding through traditional medical avenues.

"As an osteopathic physician, I focus on the patient’s health—what is right with the body—not just what is wrong with it," said Dr. Swann. "I also take a holistic approach, and work closely with my patients to make them part of the healing process through a healthy lifestyle and at-home exercises," added Dr. Swann.

Dr. Swann has also served as a physician on the emergency room staff of Suburban Hospital in Bethesda since 1991. He and his wife, Rexie, a registered nurse, have lived in Thurmont for the past 13 years.

Osteopathy is the practice of medicine and surgery that attempts to understand and recruit the body’s own wisdom and abilities to heal itself.

Osteopaths, practitioners of osteopathic medicine, are fully licensed physicians and surgeons who are authorized to prescribe medications and utilize the full compliment of medicine and surgery.

While attending their own medical schools, osteopaths receive instruction in osteopathic manipulation in addition to what is traditionally taught in allopathic (MD) medical schools. Because the human body is more than 70 percent muscle, bone and nerves, aligning that system into better balance can enhance one’s health.

The majority of osteopaths enter a primary care specialty such as family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and emergency and occupational medicine. Dr. Swann’s specialty is internal medicine consultations and cranial sacral therapy.

Cranial sacral osteopathy is a branch of therapy performed by osteopathic physicians and was first used in the 1930s. Although first introduced during medical school, advanced study is an ongoing process that takes many years. It is extremely gentle, yet very powerful and effective. Cranial osteopathy is a system that recognizes that movement and rhythms exist throughout your body, including the head and face.

Joints in your skull and face allow these movements; these are the same joints that allow for accommodation and compensation for trauma and disease patterns.

In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Swann has studied martial arts and Tai Ji Quan since the early 1970s. He teaches Tai Ji Quan, and founded the Grey Tigyr Tai Ji Quan/Kung Fu Academy in 1993.