Kate O’ Shea first introduced the term “Orthopedic Psychology” in 1995, in her book Finding Your Balance: Caring for Mind, Body and Soul in Times of Discomfort, Instability and Surgery, the original release of Healing Hip Joint and Knee Pain, published by North Atlantic Books in 1998.
Orthopedic Psychology specifically explores how the quality of orthopedic health, mobility and comfort affects the sense of self. Kate coined the phrase Orthopedic Psychology in 1993 to name the dynamic in which our sense of self is shaped by the strength and stability of our inner architecture (our skeleton), and conversely how the functionality of our structural strength and stability is enlivened by our sense of self.