One thing that you, as graduates, must remember, is that you have to keep pace with advancing science, it is in this spirit that the last daughter of science, Osteopathy, raises her head and claims to inherit all that is good in the past history of the healing art. It is impossible in this age of progress to go around in an eddy of purposeless dust. It is here that Osteopathy comes in to claim the field in presenting itself to the world and to the medical profession in particular as the climax of all medical history.

Dr. J. Martin Littlejohn, addressing the graduating class of the American School of Osteopathy.

If you’re like most people, you’ve been going to a doctor since you were born and perhaps didn’t know if you were seeing a D.O. (osteopathic physician) or an M.D. (allopathic physician). You may not even be aware that there are two types of complete physicians in the United States. You are more than just the sum of your body parts. That’s why doctors of osteopathic medicine (D.O.s) practice a “whole person” approach to health care. Instead of just treating specific symptoms, osteopathic physicians concentrate on treating you as a whole. Osteopathic physicians understand how all the body’s systems are interconnected and how each one affects the others.

Excerpted from the American Osteopathic Association’s website.

For more information on Osteopathic Physicians, please visit the U.S. Department of Labor.