I ask because I have a friend who just began a program to get her D.O. I’ve only had M.D.s treating me so I’m curious as to what the differences are and if there is any merit to osteopathic medicine being better or worse.
From what I can gather on the net, osteopathic medicine is a more holistic approach and uses something called osteopathic manipulative medicine. Frankly, it sounds a bit “new agey” to me.
I’d ask my friend (in fact, I have), but she’s been a bit busy. Apparently medical school can be somewhat rigorous. She did say she’ll give me a proper explanation when I see her during her winter break, but I don’t want to wait that long.
There are some things I know about osteopathy and some things I THINK I know. However, this time I’ll just mention the things I know.
Here in Missouri, a Doctor of Osteopathy must have completed an accredited series of courses. There are several osteopathic medical schools. Once the D.O. has completed all the appropriate courses and passed the exam, he/she has the same authority as an M.D. – prescribe medicine, perform surgery, deliver babies and what have you. Licensed osteopaths work in hospitals as well as in private practice.
As for the differences in philosophy, technique, etc., I’ll leave that to someone else.
They’ve become very similar. Here’s a simple rundown page. A greater percentage of DO’s go into primary care than MD’s. The history is kind of interesting, to me at least. Just google it.
Osteopathic doctors have a few good things going for them (on average, you can find some MDs who also have these attributes):
[ul]
[li]More attention to the whole person, and not just tunnel vision on a problem.[/li][li]More education on general practitioning and bedside manner.[/li][li]They’re not afraid to touch (in a good way) other than in examination.[/li][li]They do have a fully qualified MD education on top of their OD education.[/li][/ul]
They also have a bad thing going for them:
[ul][li]Their founder was a nutcase who practiced pseudoscience. Some ODs today still practice some of these original quack therapies.[/ul] [/li]
If you can find an OD who renounces these handful of quack remedies (chelation, cranial and fluidic manipulations) then go for it. (Or, at least, you demand not to go with these ‘therapies’ and make the OD pull out of his or her MD bag of tricks.)