What is the difference between MD and DO

• Both are medical doctors
• MD is specifically “Doctor of Medicine” and
• DO is “Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine”

DOs just like MDs can perform:

• surgery
• child delivery
• prescribe medications

What Makes DOs Different?

• DOs look at the "total person". Osteopathic physicians focus on preventive care. Instead of just treating specific symptoms or illnesses, they look at the whole body.

• DOs receive extra training in the musculoskeletal system,
• which is comprised of the nerves, muscles, and bones. This
• training gives DOs a better understanding of how an injury or
• illness in one part of the body can affect another part of
• the body; therefore, DOs have a therapeutic and
• diagnostic advantage.

Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment

• DOs use what is called osteopathic manipulative treatment
• (OMT). OMT is a technique in which the DOs use their
• hands to diagnose injury and illness, giving special attention
• to the joints, bones, muscles, and nerves. Manipulations
• improve circulation, which in turn, creates a normal nerve
• and blood supply, enabling the body to heal itself.

DOs take a more comprehensive approach to the patient. They are trained to look at the whole person more vs just what the 'symptoms' are. Their technical medical training is the same as an MD. You will probably find that an DO will spend more time with you in an appointment.

Osteopathy ...

• treats the person as a unity (mind, body, spirit)

• addresses all these aspects through structure

• If the structure is balanced and functions well - other
• aspects of a person must improve.

In everyday life our bodies (structure) are continually adapting to the demands that we make on them. They do this automatically, however, sometimes stress overcomes the reflex corrections that the body tries to make and this presents as pain and loss of function.

In this situation osteopathy can be an appropriate treatment to help resolve the stresses held in the body and help to make structure function again.

Osteopathic medicine is also known as osteopathy. It is a form of conventional medicine that, in part, emphasizes diseases arising in the musculoskeletal system

In Osteopathy, there is an underlying belief that all of the body's systems work together, and disturbances in one system may affect function elsewhere in the body.

Osteopathy has a reputation for dealing with back and neck pain.
Most osteopathic physicians practice osteopathic manipulation, a full-body system of hands-on techniques to alleviate pain, restore function, and promote health and well-being.