What is the difference in training between an Osteopathic Doctor OD who went to a college of osteopathic medicine and a medical doctor MD who went to a traditional medical school.
Depends. Osteopaths would tell you they focus on prevention and the whole person. Most doctors would be skeptical and osteopaths are typically not scientifically based. I might consider them as complementing your regular doc, but not as a replacement. And, I’d be skeptical of many of them.
Would chiropractic’s fall under this?
I swear by my chiropractor, done wonders for me.
And if I remember right, KC has stated that HVLA helped him after his bike accident.
Apparently there is a difference between an Osteopath and a Doctor of Osteopathic medicine who goes to a college of osteopathic medicine instead of a medical school. After they graduate from osteopathic college they get further training in a specialty such as radiology, ophthalmology, etc. Some medical practices have both types of doctors and a patient wouldn’t know the difference unless they saw the initials DO instead of MD after their name.
I had a DO for about 20 years until he changed to be a concierge practice. A long time ago my doctor retired and I got an DO as a replacement - this guy was far better than my MD, but he had a family issue and had to step away. I replaced him with another DO. My doctor would examine me and talk into a mini taper recorder document the visit. The osteopaths were different - they actually talked to me. They were never rushed. Yes, you sometimes had to wait because they didn’t rush you or any patient thru a visit.
They talk led to me and they listened to me I was on Paxil for social anxiety for years and Dr Kessler would always say “I hate Paxil”. Finally he switched me to Prozac. The reason was that Paxil can have awful withdrawal symptoms but Prozac stays in the system for about a month. After a month he asked how I was doing and then asked something no doctor ever had - would I want to try coming off it. I did, and I did fine.
I felt like the DO’s were more concerned about finding out WHY instead of prescribing a drug and calling it good.
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Osteopathic doctor are licensed differently than MD but have all the rights of an MD.
Don’t confuse osteopaths with osteopathic medicine.
While MD tend to look down on DO. It’s just people being snobs
The real difference is about zero is practical care.
MD and DO do the exact same residencies and take the same test.
The philosophical difference whole body vs organ specific but really you don’t see much about it.
The training differences is a DO learns some manipulation techniques but I’ve never seen one do any.
The old joke was what is a DO? Someone who couldn’t get into medical school
Not under osteopathic medicine.
A DO is a full scope physician, the same as an MD
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Another thing to note was my comment was general. Each state regulates licensing of medical professionals.
A good example is in some states a podiatrist can do feet, some can also do ankles, and in some states they can also do hands.
As such in some states a DO may have different restrictions than an MD but I’m not aware of any.
My girlfriend licensed MD but use nothing to do with DO or Dentist or podiatrist. Each one is licensed differently.
In 20 years mine did once. But it wasn’t a regular part of any of my visits.
What did they manipulate ? Was it like a chiropractor ?
Most won’t talk about it at least not to an MD. I’m not against manipulations.
Thanks for the responses. This is why I asked. My ophthalmologist retired last year so last month I saw the one that replaced him at the same practice assuming he was an MD. However, I subsequently found out that he is an osteopathic doctor who did his residency in ophthalmology.
When I this new doctor last month I was diagnosed with early stage macular degeneration so needless to say I am very concerned about his qualification.
This new doctor, though, did a few things that made me feel confident about him. I saw him on a Thursday and called the office on Friday to let them know that I had a few questions. The office told me that they would give him a message so I didn’t think he would get back to me until the following week. To my surprise he called me early the following day, which was a Saturday, to answer my questions. During that call he was very caring about my concerns. In addition he told me about recent studies of treatments and when I did research on the Mayo Clinic website it confirmed what he said.
It’s much harder for DO to get into ophthalmology. That should give you some confidence.
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