page_title: Osteopathic medicine in the United States
section_title: Criticism and internal debate
hierarchical_section_title: Osteopathic medicine in the United States / Criticism and internal debate
caption_attribution_description: English: 1st year enrollment at U.S. osteopathic medical schools, 1968-2007.
context_page_description: Osteopathic medicine is a branch of the medical profession in the United States. Osteopathic physicians are licensed to practice medicine and surgery in all 50 states and are recognized to varying degrees in 85 other countries.
  Frontier physician Andrew Taylor Still founded the profession as a rejection of the prevailing system of medical practices throughout the 19th century. Still's techniques relied on manipulation of joints and bones, to diagnose and treat illness, and he called his practices "osteopathy". By the middle of the 20th century, the profession had moved closer to mainstream medicine, adopting modern public health and biomedical principles. American "osteopaths" became "osteopathic medical doctors", ultimately achieving full practice rights as medical doctors in all 50 states, including serving in the United States Armed Forces as physicians and surgeons.
  In modern medicine, any distinction between the MD and the DO professions has eroded steadily. Diminishing numbers of DO graduates enter primary care fields, fewer use osteopathic manipulative treatment, and all allopathic and osteopathic physicians train under the same residency programs.
caption: First-year enrollment at osteopathic medical schools, 1968–2011
exif: {}