Osteopathy
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[edit] Definition
Osteopathy is a form of therapy based on massage and manipulation.
[edit] History
Osteopathy was invented by Andrew Taylor Still, an American doctor, who in 1892 founded the American School of Osteopathy, still in business under the name of the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. The theory was similar to chiropractic and held that all disease is caused by subluxation of the blood vessels. Over the next decade or so a dozen colleges of osteopathy opened across America. In the 1940s, the American Osteoopathic Association[1] officially abandoned the subluxation theory and embraced modern scientific medicine. Osteopathic colleges in America were expanded to include full modern medical training. In the 1970s, with renewed interest, a new wave of osteopathic colleges appeared.
[edit] Discussion
The term "osteopath" has different meanings in different countries.
In the United States and to a lesser degree in Canada, the term generally refers to someone with a Doctor of Ostoepathy (DO) degree from an accredited school. In the elaborate social hierarchy of the health professions, DOs have low status, yet they are fully qualified licensed physicians, able to prescribe medication, perform surgery, acquire board certification, and receive additional specialist training. Admission standards, academic standards, and residency requirements to be qualified as a DO are of the same general quality as those to be qualified as an MD. DOs are commonly used as primary care physicians along with MDs in many health programs. In practice, a DO functions much as an MD, with the sole exception of also performing tasks that an MD would normally handle with a referral to a physiotherapist. The majority of DOs use conventional medicine even for many musculoskeletal problems, such as osteoporosis, damaged tendons and ligaments, prolapsed disks, spinal fusion, and bone and joint infections.
In most other places, including the UK and Australia, osteopaths are glorified physiotherapists. Many of its practitioners still maintain that manipulation is useful for all musculoskeletal conditions, including those for which American DOs use conventional medicine, and some even claim that it is useful for other conditions, such as asthma, cancer, hypertension, chronic fatigue, and a variety of gynecological conditions. These claims are not supported by modern scientific medical understanding.
