What is a D.O. ?

D.O.'s are Osteopathic Physicians who are fully educated and licensed to practice all aspects of medicine. They are trained in accredited schools just as Allopathic Physicians (M.D.), sometimes along side them such as at Michigan State University. They also are required to perform 1 year of Internship training at an accredited training hospital prior to choosing their specialty training. There are Osteopathic Physicians who are certified to specialize in family medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, surgery, internal medicine, and all other specialties and subspecialties.They treat patients and prescribe medicine in offices and hospitals across the country and in the U.S. armed services. They use all of the resources of modern medicine to prevent, detect, and treat disease, but they offer their patients something EXTRA.Osteopathic Physicians are specially trained to perform Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT), a method in which they use their hands to diagnose and treat the patient, giving particular attention to joints, bones, muscles, and nerves. OMT is employed to relieve pain and discomfort and, even more importantly, it assists your body's ability to heal itself.

About Osteopathic Family Physicians...
Osteopathic Family Physicians are D.O.'s who choose to specialize in Family Practice. They provide disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment strategies to you and your family through all of life's stages, from infancy to end-of-life.
Osteopathic Family Physicians hold the following principles as central to their practice of medicine:
* You are a person who is a unifaction of body, mind, and spirit.
* Your body, when properly treated and maintained, is capable of self-regulation, self-maintenance, and self-healing.
* If all of the parts of your body are functioning optimally you will maintain the highest possible level of health, that is, structure and function of the body are interrelated.
Beacuse Osteopathic Family Physicians have an appreciation for the interrelationship between body, mind, and spirit they can provide you with the most HOLISTIC and comprehensive medical care available.
Their appreciation of the relationship between structure and function, the use of OMT, and their understanding of hollistic and alternative treatments allow them to diagnose and effectively treat conditions that elude non-osteopathic clinicians.
Your Osteopathic Family Physician treats you, the WHOLE PERSON, not just
a disease or its symptoms.