By Wesley Beth Reiss, D.O.

More and more people are seeking alternatives to conventional medical practices, yet few are aware of the science of Osteopathy.  Osteopathic Medicine is a truly holistic approach to healing, unique in its ability to bridge conventional medicine with alternative modalities.

Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (Dos) are fully trained, fully licensed physicians.  They look at the whole person, focusing on health, rather than disease.  They stress that the human body has a tremendous capacity to maintain and heal itself, but sometimes needs help to achieve harmony.  DOs are able to integrate manual treatments into an overall practice of medicine that only a fully trained physician is qualified to provide.

Long before the term "holistic medicine" became fashionable, osteopathic physicians were practicing a philosophy of medicine based on a view of the body as an interrelated whole, with each system and organ in constant contact.

Osteopathic medicine is a unique form of American medical care that was developed in the 19th Century by Andrew Taylor Still, M.D.  Dr. Still, a frontiersman, was the son of Methodist minister who was also a country doctor.  From an early age, Dr. Still was exposed to illness and aware of the lack of knowledge of the cause and treatment of diseases that were often devastating.  He recognizes the tragic toll of such ignorance, culminating in the death of three of his own children during the epidemic in 1864 of what is now identified as viral meningitis.  Dr. Still’s loss, in conjunction with his lifelong study of nature and dissatisfaction with the effectiveness of the medicine of his day, sent him on a personal and professional search for better way.  In 1874, Dr. Still, in his words, "flung to the breeze the banner of Osteopathy."

He called his new system of medicine "Osteopathy" because it was based on anatomy.  Osteopathic medicine focuses on the patient as a whole, unique individual, considering all aspects of life including diet, exercise, physical and emotional stresses, genetic, environmental and occupational factors.

In diagnosing and treating their patients,  Osteopathic physicians are guided by generally accepted principles.  The first is that the human body is a unit, it is integrated organism in which no part functions independently.  The second principle states that the body, through a complex system of checks and balances, tends to be self-regulating and self-healing in the face of stress and disease.  The third principle states that adequate function of all body organs and systems depends on the integrating forces of the nervous and circulatory systems.

The fundamental contribution of the osteopathic profession is the recognition that the body’s musculoskeletal system (bones, tendons, ligaments and connective tissue), which makes up about two-thirds of the body’s mass, plays an important role in the body’s continuous effort to resist and overcome illness and disease.  Osteopathic physicians, in addition to using all standard methods of diagnosis and therapy, use a system of manual techniques to diagnose areas of structural dysfunction and to assist the body in receiving normal motion and balance in all its tissues and fluids.  Rather than merely treating specific symptoms, DOs are more concerned with determining what is causing an imbalance and why.  It is their belief that once the underlying causes have been diagnosed and treated, the body is then free to repair itself or to respond to other appropriate therapies.

In summary, the science of osteopathy states that the body, if adequately nourished, can function to maintain, repair and heal itself if the various parts of the body are in correct relationship to one another and are free to move within the normal range.  It must be emphasized that Doctors of Osteopathic medicine are physicians, licensed to practice all phases of medicine in all 50 states.  Osteopaths have the same training as M.D.s and must pass the same licensing examination.  Like MDs, osteopaths diagnose diseases, prescribe drugs, refer patients to hospitals and perform surgery.  DOs are also represented in all of the practice specialties.  The difference between MDs and DOs rests in the focus of their medical training and treatment.  In addition to the standard medical school curriculum, osteopathic medicine emphasizes the relationship between the musculoskeletal system and the maintenance of health.  Consequently, DOs receive 600 - 1,000 hours of extensive training in the manipulation of spine, joints, fascia and muscles.  The inclusion of osteopathic manipulation within a modern medical setting enables osteopathic medicine to be truly "holistic."

"To find health should be the object of the doctor.  Anyone can find disease," Dr. A.T. Still declared.  Those privileged to follow in Dr. Still’s footsteps appreciate the central experience of osteopathy as he knew and practiced it:  the direct intimate experience by the physician of the force of life and its manifestations in the patient.  Approaching gently and quietly, poised not to control, but to assist, the osteopathic physician seeks to help the patient to manifest his or her fullest potential for health.

This article appeared in the October/November 1997 issue of Creations Magazine.

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