Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine
If you are like most people, you have been going to a doctor since you were born and perhaps did not know if you were seeing a D.O. (osteopathic physician) or an M.D. (allopathic physician).
D.O.s comprise a separate, yet equal, branch of American medical care. Together, D.O.s and M.D.s enhance the state of care available. However, it is the ways in which D.O.s and M.D.s are different that brings an extra dimension to your family's care. The extra dimension that D.O.s bring include:
- Osteopathic medical schools emphasize training students to be primary care physicians.
- D.O.s practice a “whole person” approach to medicine. Instead of treating specific symptoms or illnesses, they assess the overall health of patients, including home and work environments.
- Osteopathic physicians focus on preventive health care.
- D.O.s receive extra training in the musculoskeletal system, which is 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 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 encourage your body’s natural tendency toward good health. By combining all other medical procedures with OMT, D.O.s offer their patients the most comprehensive care available in medicine today.