Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine was “discovered” by an American MD in the 1800’s named Andrew Taylor Still. Disenchanted with allopathic medicine, and after much independent research, he gradually evolved a new philosophy and approach to health. He termed this new science “Osteopathy” after the Greek roots “osteo”- for bone, and “patho”- for the disease. He did this as he utilized the patient’s physical structure, including their bones, as a means of both diagnosing diseases and as a handle to correct faulty anatomy – assisting the body to heal itself. To him, this was a “sacred science”, of which he was merely the discoverer. He felt that in the practice of Osteopathy the physician interacted with a “healing power through all Nature”. Basic to this science is the recognition that the body has inherent mechanisms to correct disease, and that a normal anatomical structure, favorable environmental conditions, and proper nutrition are essential for the full expression of health. As an integral part of his art, Dr. Still used what he termed “Osteopathic Manipulation”. This is a hands-on approach to restructure a patient’s anatomy under the guidance of these inherent forces, and so favorably influence function.
A doctor of osteopathy (DO) looks at the complete patient and the environment they occupy. Whereas allopathic physicians have subdivided medicine into “systems” and tend to treat that particular system as their own territory, a truly osteopathic physician understands that all these territories interconnect to make a whole.
For example, an MD treating a patient with hip arthritis and heart disease will see these as separate problems. If he is a family physician or cardiologist he may prescribe medications for reducing blood pressure and to protect the heart. ADO will understand that an arthritic hip can cause up to three times the energy expenditure in getting from point A to point B, which places much more strain on the heart. They are, in fact, part of the same problem.
While DOs also specialize there is much less of a tendency to treat each system as separate from the rest. DOs also have a specialty not included in an MDs specialty list, which is osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM). This is what my specialty is, completing hospital-based internship and residency programs to understand more completely how the body is interconnected, and to develop skill sets and sensitivity in using anatomy as a means of diagnosing and also as a “handle” in correcting diseases.