Osteopathic Medicine: What is a D.O.?

D.O.s bring something extra to medicine

-Osteopathic medical schools emphasize training students to be primary care physicians.

-D.O.s practice a "whole person" approach to medicine. Instead of just treating specific symptoms or illnesses, they regard your body as integrated whole.

-Osteopathic physicians focus on preventive health care.

-D.O.s receive extra training in the musculoskeletal system -- your body’s interconnected system of nerves, muscles and bones that make up two-thirds of its body mass. This training provides osteopathic physicians with a better understanding of the ways that an injury or illness in one part of your body can affect another.

-Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is incorporated in the training and practice of osteopathic physicians. With OMT, osteopathic physicians use their hands to diagnose injury and illness and to encourage your body’s natural tendency toward good health. By combining all available medical procedures with OMT, D.O.s offer their patients the most comprehensive care available in medicine today.

Source: The AOA, www.osteopathic.org/index.cfm?PageID=ado_whatis, 31 MAY 2004