WHAT IS A D.O.?
Dr. Strode, Dr. Hurst, and Dr. Roberts are osteopathic physicians. If you're like most people, you may not be aware that there are two types of physicians in the United States. The fact is that both D.O.s and M.D.s are fully qualified physicians licensed to prescribe medication and perform surgery. Is there any difference between these two kinds of physicians? Yes. And no.
D.O.s and M.D.s are alike in many ways:
- Both D.O.s and M.D.s have four-year undergraduate degrees
- Both D.O.s and M.D.s complete four years of basic medical education.
- Both D.O.s and M.D.s obtain graduate medical education after medical school through internships and residencies.
- Both D.O.s and M.D.s can choose to practice any specialty area of medicine.
- Both D.O.s and M.D.s pass examinations to obtain state licenses.
- Both D.O.s and M.D.s practice in accredited health care facilities.
However, It is the ways D.O.s and M.D.s are different that can contribute to your family's health care.
D.O.s bring something extra to medicine:
- D.O.s practice a "whole person" approach to medicine. Instead of just treating symptoms, they regard your body as an integrated whole.
- D.O.s focus on preventive health care.
- D.O.s receive extra training in osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT). This training in the musculoskeletal system is incorporated into the practice of osteopathic physicians.
- With osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), osteopathic physicians use their hands to diagnose illness and injury and to encourage your body's natural tendency toward good health.
By combining all other available medical options with OMT, D.O.s, apply the philosophy of treating the whole person to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of illness, disease, and injury.
For further information on osteopathic medicine go to American Osteopathic Association