OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE
A Distinctive Branch of Mainstream Medical Care
Should the physician focus on the patient or the patient's disease? This debate has raged from the beginnings of medical history when the Hippocratic philosophy centered on the patient and the rival Canidian philosophy focused on the disease.
Today, only one branch of mainstream medicine follows the Hippocratic approach. It is Osteopathic medicine and, currently, some 28,000 Osteopathic physicians and surgeons offer the public a different dimension in medical care.
What is the osteopathic medical philosophy?
In brief, D.O.s, or Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, are fully licensed and recognized physicians and surgeons who stress the unity of all body systems. They also emphasize the musculoskeletal system, holistic medicine, proper nutrition and environmental factors. They bring a hands-on approach to medicine and view manipulation or palpation as an aid to diagnosis and treatment of various illnesses.
Osteopathic medicine was founded on the Missouri frontier in 1874. Dr. Andrew Taylor Still was an individualistic and strong-willed M.D. who was dissatisfied with the ineffectiveness of 19th Century medicine. He decried the rudimentary drugs and surgery of the day and saw many people, including his own three children, die from serious diseases.
In response, Dr. Still founded a philosophy of medicine that harkened back to Hippocrates, with its central focus on the body unity. He identified the musculoskeletal system as a key element of health, a principal that's gaining M.D. acceptance only now. Recognizing the body's ability to heal itself, he stressed preventive medicine, eating properly and keeping fit, which mainstream America wholeheartedly embraced in the 1970s.
He identified palpation and the human touch as vital to gaining patient confidence and providing effective medical care. And he stressed manipulation as a less intrusive form of diagnosis and treatment.
By combining unique osteopathic principles with traditional diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, D.O.s offer a balanced system of health care to both prevent and cure disease. In fact, the osteopathic approach is a true system of preventive medicine. And by treating the whole person, not just the disease, the D.O. actively seeks to improve the quality of life of each patient.