How else are D.O.s and M.D.s alike?
Both physician colleges require a four year undergraduate
degree in science.
Both complete four years of basic medical education.
Both must pass comparable state licensing examinations.
Both practice in fully accredited and licensed hospitals and medical
centers.
Both physician groups can choose to either remain in General Primary
Practice or seek two to six additional training years in a specialty area of medicine,
such as psychiatry, surgery, or gynecology.
So, what's the difference???
D.O.s practice "wholistic" medicine. This
means that instead of treating a "declared symptoms or illnesses" (like a cold)
with some other unpersoanable modality (like an antibiotic), a D.O. will regard you as an
integrated whole being with a "dis - ease" originating from your whole
experience of life.
He or she may still use the antibiotic if you are well into the
illness, but early on they may use herbs to stimulate your immune system, Osteopathic
Manipulation to aid lymphatic flow, discuss your recent divorce and how emotions play a
part in your health......health care that demands a visit longer than just the time it
takes to write that antibiotic.
Osteopaths, believe it or not, really don't like to see you in their
office because you are sick.....they much prefer to prevent illness and promote health.
Thus "Preventive Healthcare," helping you keep your body running well, is
their goal.
D.O.s receive extra training in the musculoskeletal system...this is
your bones, muscles, nerves, and lymphatics that make up 2/3rds of your body mass.
Along with this they also receive extra training in Osteopathic
Manipulative Treatment (OMT)......a science of how the musculoskeletal system affects
"dis-ease" in the body. With OMT D.O.s use their hands to diagnose injury
and illness in your body then by applying techniques to correct these findings, they aid
the natural tendency of your body to maintain its good health.
21st Century Medicine
With all of the technological advances being made today in
medicine, combined with the outcomes of the Genome Project and the validation of
complementary modalities, the D.O. is the best trained physician to incorporated these
individual parts into the Medicine of the 21st Century.
It is truly an exciting time to be alive and to be a D.O.!
So, when you choose a D.O. as your physician, you are choosing more
than just a doctor, you are choosing a way of looking at and living life.
Choose wisely.
