Where did Osteopathy go?

I am often asked what the difference is between an osteopath and a chiropractor or physical therapist. This only happens in the United States, curiously, despite the fact that Osteopathic medicine was founded in this country. This picture is from our recent family trip to Paris. In Europe I need spend no time explaining what I do or drawing the comparison, since they are already familiar with osteopaths. In fact, they haven’t a clue what a chiropractor even is.

So how is it then, if the practice of Osteopathy was founded in the United States, that nobody knows about it here? Part of the reason is that in the United States, Osteopathic physicians are fully licensed to practice medicine. This makes it a convenient pathway to become every other kind of doctor other than an osteopath. Which is what the vast majority of D.O.’s (Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine) are in this country. In fact, it is one of the main selling points that organizations who promote D.O.’s reference. People who hold this degree span the gamut of medical professions from Family Medicine to Cardiology, Nephrology and even Neurological Surgery! That’s impressive right? It certainly is. But then why does the D.O. degree exist separate from the M.D. one?

This has been the hurdle for D.O.’s in defining their brand. They can’t very well say that it’s because we are osteopaths who practice a very nuanced and in-depth form of manual therapy from which many other professions’ techniques originated. No, we can’t say that at all, because the truth of the matter is that the vast majority of D.O.’s don’t use it! Not even a little. The brand has therefore become a diluted version of being compassionate and seeing the person as a whole human being, as if no M.D. practices medicine in this way. The Osteopathic medical school curriculum is virtually the same as the M.D. one. This is yet another selling point for them, because a huge part of our profession’s insecurity is that people might think that we are not trained as well as the M.D.’s in all of the specialties that exist other than osteopathy. So, we need to prove that we are just as smart and competent. Over the years, this has led Osteopathic medicine in this country to become a clone of so-called Allopathic medicine. Eventually leading to the death of osteopathy in the country in which it was founded.

It hasn’t completely died, however. Here I am as an example of one of the last vestiges of what remains. Let me assure you that osteopathy thrives outside of the United States, and we are beyond due for a renaissance in this country.