What Is Osteopathic Medicine?

Happy Monday, and welcome to Medical Mondays!

I’m going to talk about what I’m currently studying today, aka: what the hecks is osteopathic medicine anyway?

With the most recent ruling of a single accreditation system between the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), there are definitely more people aware of osteopathic medicine now than ever before…

However, since a lot of people assume I’m going to get an MD, and I still get asked:

• …If I’m “going to become a bone doctor“
• …Why I didn’t apply to real medical schools
• …It wasn’t so far into my past that my dad asked me how much longer it’d take til I “got my OD”

…I figured it might help to clear things up a bit! :P

There are two types of complete physicians in the United States: MD’s and DO’s.

We go through the same number of years of training, take comparable exams, can practice in any specialty, and need to complete a residency to practice in said desired specialty, so all that’s the same.

The difference is in the focus.

• Osteopathic medicine emphasizes training its student to become primary care physicians.
  
  When I was applying to medical schools, I was fairly certain through my experiences volunteering at Paul Hom Asian Clinic that I wanted to go into primary care. This has not changed. Ideally, I’d actually love to go back there to volunteer on weekends once I’m a licensed physician. I wanted to continue working with the under-served, and I also felt that a program dedicated to training their students to become primary care physicians would be the best fit for me, so I applied exclusively to DO schools.
• We learn osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), which involves moving your muscles and joints using techniques that include stretching, gentle pressure, and/or resistance to diagnose, treat, and prevent illness or injury.In terms of general understanding on what OMT looks like, I can probably best describe this as somewhat of a cross between what physical therapists and chiropractors do. (I think we just have different names for said techniques. Some examples, aka two pages of my study notes, are provided here and here.)
• There is a focus on preventive health care and taking a “whole person” approach so that we focus on the entire body, instead of just treating specific symptoms/illnesses.That being said, there are obviously exceptions to this. I’ve met a ton of MD’s who do this as well, so it’s definitely not that one can’t practice the principles that the other stresses. Some DO’s don’t ever practice OMT again after they graduate, so as with so much in life, it all really comes down to the individual. I don’t believe that one is better than the other. It really just depends on where your interests lie, and what you want to focus on.

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Disclaimer: This is where I reiterate that I am merely a medical student struggling through the world that is her clinical rotations. The statements made on this blog should not be taken as medical advice to treat, cure or prevent any disease. Please contact your own physician or health care provider before starting a health or fitness/wellness program. (See full disclaimer here.)