Osteopathic medicine, << `os` tee uh PATH ihk, >> is a system of medical care based on the belief that all body systems are interrelated. Disease in one part of the body affects other parts of the body and, therefore, the whole person must be considered in providing treatment. Osteopathic medicine emphasizes the importance of the body’s musculoskeletal system. This system consists of the muscles and bones and their connecting tendons and ligaments.
Osteopathic medicine involves all aspects of medicine and includes various medical specialties. Osteopathic physicians use all the medical, surgical, immunological, pharmacological, psychological, and hygienic procedures of modern medicine.
The musculoskeletal system makes up 60 percent of the body’s weight. Because this system is so extensive, osteopathic medicine maintains that it has especially important interrelationships with other body systems. The musculoskeletal system may be affected by many internal illnesses and, in turn, may speed or worsen the process of disease in other body systems, including the circulatory system and the nervous system. Osteopathic physicians are trained to use osteopathic manipulation of the musculoskeletal system as a diagnostic and treatment tool, when it is appropriate. Such osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is a distinctly osteopathic approach to the problems of health and disease.
History.
The founder of osteopathic medicine was Andrew Taylor Still, an American medical practitioner. Still announced the basic principles of the osteopathic system in 1874. In 1892, he organized the first osteopathic college, which was established at Kirksville, Missouri.
The first law regulating osteopathic medicine was passed in Vermont in 1896. There are now such laws in all the states, and in some of the provinces of Canada. In every state, graduates of osteopathic medical schools are eligible to be licensed as physicians and surgeons.
Careers in osteopathic medicine.
To become an osteopathic physician, a person must complete four years of preprofessional training in an accredited college or university and four years of professional education in an approved osteopathic medical college. The graduate receives a Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.) degree. There are 15 approved colleges of osteopathic medicine in the United States. After graduating, osteopathic physicians gain additional training by spending a year as an intern in an approved osteopathic hospital. The United States has about 180 osteopathic hospitals, about 130 of which offer intern training programs.
Osteopathic physicians may become certified specialists in any of a number of medical fields. Certification programs require two to five years of additional training after internship.
More than 28,000 osteopathic physicians practice in the United States. Most of them are members of the American Osteopathic Association, which has its headquarters in Chicago.
The association publishes two professional periodicals, Journal of the American Osteopathic Association and D.O. It also publishes the American Osteopathic Association Yearbook and Directory of Osteopathic Specialists.
