Advantages And Disadvantages Of Osteopathic

Medical doctors go through rigorous schooling and residencies so that they can one day help with the treatment of sick and also healthy individuals. While in school, medical students make the decision as to whether they will follow an allopathic approach or an osteopathic one. Once this decision is made, and they graduate, they are designated as an MD or DO, respectively. Although they both treat patients, where they differ is in their approach. Doctors of medicine tend to use medications as a form of treatment, whereas doctors of osteopathic medicine will place more emphasis on first dealing with the root cause of the issue before resorting to medications.

An Osteopathic Approach

There are over 300 million people living in the United States

Allopathic physicians are what most people are familiar with. These physicians perform examinations in the hopes of diagnosing, treating and also preventing illnesses. To do this, they may order different types of tests, including blood work, and also prescribe medications. The osteopathic philosophy is more patient oriented and factors in the mind and body when trying to determine a treatment plan (Carey MD, Motyka DO, Garrett PhD, & Keller MD, 2003). This philosophy embraces an approach to wellness through knowledge of interrelationships of structure and function, and a search for the causes of patients ' problems (Tettambel DO,

In the beginning stages, there is not a big difference in how allopathic and osteopathic physician go about diagnosing a patient. Before a patient is diagnosed, a thorough examination is performed which covers any patient complaints and treatments they may have undertaken. This is routine between both allopathic and osteopathic doctors. The next step is where the two may start to differ. Depending on the complaint, the osteopathy approach will have the physician perform a standing mechanical examination. This examination will allow the osteopath to gauge the quality of a patient’s range of motion and determine the functionality of the patient’s body mechanics. Allopathic doctors do not utilize the standing mechanical examination and instead would send their patients for x-rays or other outpatient procedures (Handoll DO,