why DO?

[hannacanna]

---

Members do not see this ad.

i am sure this has been discussed to death; could someone please point me towards the thread?

basically, i am a pre-med at the very beginning of my second bachelor's degree process. i am very interested in preventative medicine, natural healing, etc. and have benefitted from a long relationship with chiropractics (i have scoliosis and have been chiropractically treated since age 8--i think that this treatment is why i am able to walk dispite the severity of my curve). i am currently focused on allopathic training, but i wonder if maybe i would be happier and fit in better with the osteopathic way of training.

i am concerned with the "real doctor" hang-ups people have, and i'm worried about the USMLE vs. COMLEX and residencies issues. plus, there aren't that many osteo schools out there, and for some reason i feel that if i am going to go osteo i should drop allo altogether.

can anyone help me?

 

[SuzyQ]

Osteopathic doctors are REAL doctors and have just has much training as M.D.s do. They both go for 4 years and osteopathic students have additional training in manipulation. D.O.'s can do any residency that they wish however a large marjority of them do go on to family practice. D.O.'s and M.D.'s are both doctors, with the same amount of medical training are have the option of going into whatever they want. The only diffence is of course the manipulation training and there philosophy of "treating the patient, not just the illness" They look into all the factors that can be contributing to the illness.

 

[conmantlc]

To better inform yourself about osteopathic medicine, you should visit the official site, <a href="http://www.aoa-net.org," target="_blank">www.aoa-net.org,</a> to find out what its all about. You can take both USMLE and COMLEX, and you can do both allo and osteo residencies. You should truly understand ostepathic medicine first before you should decide whether to go DO or MD. To me, the DO choice is simple. It makes perfect sense to me to study osteopathic medicine, and I would feel handicapped being an MD without the knowledge of manipulation and holistic treatments. Talk to a DO or shadow for more help.

 

[hannacanna]

thanks for the link--that helps a lot. i need to educate myself about the approach and philosophy, because i want to make an informed decision. if i become sold on the philosophy, i'll definately go for osteo.

thanks for your help!