We’re glad you asked about an osteopathic physician...

D.O.s help their patients develop attitudes and lifestyles that don’t just fight illness, but prevent it.  They embrace the concept that a person’s lifestyle (including their home, family, work, spiritual and social environments) have a tremendous impact on their patients’ health and well-being.  D.O.s are philosophically trained to understand that the human body is wonderfully made to function as a whole.  They have a unique understanding of how all of the body’s systems are interconnected and how illness in one affects all the others.  Using osteopathic manipulative skills, they offer a caring, hands-on, whole body approach to diagnose and treat health problems. Often without using unnecessary medications, D.O.s  can help their patients preserve or restore their health and sense of well-being.

A D.O. is a fully licensed physician permitted the unlimited practice of medicine.  The only other doctor permitted unlimited practice of medicine is a M.D.

Both D.O.s and M.D.s complete four years of medical school and have full medical degrees from accredited medical schools.  Both complete a residency program in a specialty area of medicine.  Both must pass state licensing exams, are covered by major insurance plans, and practice in fully accredited and licensed facilities.

Currently 52% of osteopathic physicians practice in primary care areas...while others choose a specialty or sub-specialty area covering the full spectrum of medical specialties available to all D.O.s and M.D.s.

D.O.s have been practicing medicine since Andrew T. Still founded the first school in the late 1800’s.  The first D.O.s in Texas, opened practices in Waco and Sherman. TX, in 1896-97.  Today, D.O.’s practice in 161 Texas counties, eight in which they are the only physician.  They make up 18% of physicians that practice in towns of 10,000 people or less and 22% of all physicians practicing in communities of 2,500  persons or less.

Excellence in care is what you can expect from a D.O. family doctor or specialist.  D.O.s use all the latest tools of modern medicine,,, and much more.

These “extra touches” distinguish the D.O.’s whole-person philosophy of medicine.  It’s a century-old tradition of caring for people, not just treating symptoms.