Osteopathic medicine: Encyclopedia II - Osteopathic medicine - History

Osteopathic medicine - History

Osteopathic practice started just before the chiropractic movement in the Midwest of the United States in the nineteenth century. Early in the twentieth century, the American osteopathic profession adopted the use of medicine and surgery, whereas chiropractors continue to use strictly manipulative techniques. Outside of the US, particularly in the United Kingdom, osteopaths tended to stay closer to their traditional approach. Osteopathy was founded by Andrew Taylor Still, M.D., D.O., who was born in 1828 in Virginia. Dr. A.T. Still was trained by apprenticeship and was employed as an army doctor during the American Civil War in the U.S. Army. The horrors of battlefield injury and the subsequent death of his wife and several children from infectious diseases left him totally disillusioned with the traditional practice of medicine. Still perceived the medical practices of his day to be ineffective. Troubled by what he saw as problems with the medical profession, Still founded osteopathic practice. Using an alternative philosophical approach, he dogmatically opposed the use of drugs and surgery. Instead, he saw the human body as being metaphysically capable of curing itself through the use of manipulation techniques.

Over time he and his followers developed a series of specialized physical treatments, for which he coined the name Osteopathy. Dr. Still founded the American School of Osteopathy (now the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine) in Kirksville, Missouri, for the teaching of osteopathy on May 10, 1892. Kirksville was one of few places where he was not figuratively "chased out of town" by other doctors. While the state of Missouri was willing to grant him a charter for awarding the M.D. degree, he remained unhappy with the practices of his peers and chose instead to grant his own D.O. degree.

In the late 1800s Still taught that "dis-ease" was caused when bones moved out of place and disrupted the flow of blood or the flow of nervous impulses; he therefore concluded that one could cure diseases by manipulating bones to restore the supposedly interrupted flow. His critics point out that he never ran any controlled experiments to test his hypothesis; his supporters point out that many of Still's writings are philosophical rather than scientific in nature. He questioned the drug practices of his day and regarded surgery as a last resort. As medical science developed, osteopathy gradually incorporated all its theories and practices. Today, except for additional emphasis on muscoskeletal diagnosis and treatment, the training and scope of osteopathy in the United States is very similar to that of allopathic or bio-medicine. Internationally, all osteopathic training incorporates at least the basic biomedical sciences and differential diagnosis, while emphasizing non-surgical orthopedics.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki