Finding a good doctor of osteopathy is much like finding a good medical practitioner, general practitioner or nurse practitioner. The process, although pretty straight forward, always nets you less names and less options because there are fewer doctors of osteopathy then there are MDs. Another choice may be a chiropractor who some believe perform much the same way a doctor of osteopathy does.
Let\’s clear up that slight misunderstanding so that you can proceed to find which ever physician you would prefer to have treat your condition. A doctor of osteopathy graduates from medical school and holds a medical degree. While they do also do manipulations on the spine, muscles and neurological system they are also able to perform medical tests and write prescriptions for medications. Doctors of chiropractic medicine do not graduate from medical school and hold no medical degree. Their time of education is much shorter and their focus is directly on the neurological system and the spine.
Millions of people today are turning to doctors of osteopathy as their choice because they recognize that these physicians offer a variety of noninvasive healing treatments that are not available from conventional or traditional Western medicine doctors. Osteopaths believe that the best medicine is contained in the body\’s immune system and by building up the body to be healthy many times the body can take care of itself.
Doctors of osteopathy believe that a person\’s history of illness and physical trauma leave a map on the body structure. Using a highly developed sense of touch to feel this living anatomy they can detect physical problems that sometimes fail to appear on x-ray. Their job is to give the body enough support to restore normal function and heal itself.
Because of the growing popularity and trends for individuals to use greener products and provide a healthy base for their bodies, many more people are also seeing doctors of osteopathy instead of their allopathic (conventional) doctor. So the likelihood is that one of your friends has already seen a doctor of osteopathy. One of the best ways by far of finding any physician is through a personal recommendation. Ask your friends or family to see if they know of anyone in the area.
Another way to find a local doctor of osteopathy who you can trust is to ask people who work in health care or health related field. Feel free to ask your general practitioner or internal medicine specialist or even the guy at the local health food store. These are not always as good as the recommendation from someone you know and trust that it is a good place to start.
Another place to look if all else fails is the American osteopathic Association website (http://www.osteopathic.org/index.cfm?PageID=lcl_assoc#ca) which lists each state served by a local osteopathic medical Association in order to assist members and patients.
Just as with any other type of physician or care provider it is important that you first perform an interview or consultation with the physician in order to ascertain that you and the doctor are on the same page when addressing your health care issues.
At any time that you feel a recommendation is not in line with medical practice with which you feel comfortable you must seek the advice of another practitioner. This does not mean that you leave your first doctor of osteopathy, but rather is that you seek a second opinion.
Remember that you have been given one body and it\’s your responsibility to take care of it to the best of your ability.
RESOURCES
University of Maryland Medical Center: Osteopathy
MedlinePlus: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine