Osteopathic Practice

I believe that a human being is a unit of body, mind, and spirit and everything is interrelated, and I am interested in patients as a whole and I want to spend time with them to get to know as a person, such as who they are, where are they from, and their life stories, which will benefit me in finding causes so I can not only treat the resulting symptoms but also treat the underlying problem. I believe body has its ability to self-heal and I want to help patients not only with their physical problems but also issues with lifestyle, emotional well-being, and environment. I witnessed how Dr. Truong applied the philosophy of osteopathic medicine into his practice. He spent time to educate his patients and helped them establish good eating and exercises habits. He asked his patients to set up a life goal and constantly reminded them of working towards this goal during their weekly visit. Other osteopathic physicians I shadowed are not practicing OMM now, but they still benefit from their trainings in osteopathic medical schools by looking at patients as a whole. For example, the psychiatrist Dr. Sharma used a formula with three factors, Biology, psychology, social to diagnose patients and she said her training reminder her to focus on the whole picture instead of just a

Describe the top three reasons you have chosen osteopathic medicine as your professional choice in becoming a physician (Please use your own description and not one that widely describes the profession).

One of the main missions of the university is to help underserved communities. I believe that both my personal and academic experience has engrained in me the qualities that are essential for completing medical school and becoming a doctor. I want to become an osteopathic doctor that is involved in the community and serves those who lack proper health care. My primary care doctor, who is an osteopathic doctor, influenced my decision to pursue osteopathic medicine. She taught me that osteopathic medicine consists of treatment with holistic approaches, and it involves an education in physical manipulation. This aspect is particularly of interest to me because this is an approach that is used in India. Overall, I believe that I am a thoroughly qualified candidate to pursue a DO degree from Touro college of Osteopathic Medicine. The sheer pleasure I derive from helping people and sharing what I know, coupled with the mental stimulation intrinsic to the profession, make medicine the clear career pathway for

I have chosen osteopathic medicine as my professional choice in becoming a physician, because I have a passion for the healthcare field and learning, I want to be able to help others and give back to the community and I believe that medicine is evolving towards an osteopathic approach which takes into account the body as a whole. Passion is the driver behind any good physician. I am always looking to learn and improve upon my performance in whatever I am doing. Whether it was undergraduate coursework, medical shadowing, EMT training, or community service I put forth my fullest effort into the task at hand. Every moment in medicine and life in general is a valuable learning experience. Osteopathic medicine will force me outside of my comfort zone and many mistakes will be made along the way, but I look forward to tackling the challenges ahead of me and in the end it will allow me to become the best physician possible.

I have always had my mind set on becoming a physician. As I sat in my academic advisor’s office during my second year of college, I came to know that there were two types of medical schools, osteopathic and allopathic. I was interested to know the difference, so I started my research. I gathered information from the AACOM and AOA websites, and learned the history, philosophy, and educational curriculum of osteopathic medicine. I desired to learn more, so I made a visit to the osteopathic school near my college. Along with four other students, I sat through an interesting lecture about various bone disorders, witnessed a physician practice OMT, and met with various instructors. The connections I made that day led me to the opportunity to shadow an osteopathic physician who has truly become a role model to me. I learned

Currently there are two main types of licensed physicians in the United States. The first is the medical doctor or the allopathic doctor. About 95% of licensed doctors have been educated at one of over 120 allopathic medical schools and have thus obtained a medical doctor degree (M.D.). The second type of doctor, the doctor of osteopathy, is less common. Osteopathic doctors make up about five percent of the physicians in the nation (Peters 730). Although this represents a significant amount of physicians many people are unfamiliar with the second type of doctor. In a 1981 the AOA (American Osteopathic Association) released the results of a survey about public

Truthfully, as an undergraduate I knew very little about the osteopathic profession. In 2013, however, I began working as a medical scribe with Dr. Ghaffari-Greene, DO, in the Sibley ER and she opened my eyes to the beauty of osteopathic medicine. Thanks to Dr. Ghaffari-Greene, and a number of other osteopathic physicians in the ER, I have come to understand what osteopathic medicine is all about. Three years after my first exposure to the osteopathic profession, I continue to be motivated to become an osteopathic physician for many reasons. These include the following:

Although I have not shadowed an osteopathic physician, my experience within the field of osteopathy derives from a more personal experience. As the patient of an osteopathic physician, I am most fascinated with the multiple modalities that my physician uses within her practice. Throughout my course of visits, I have witnessed that her practice encompasses an integrative approach in which treatments include, but are not limited to, osteopathic manipulative medicine, traditional medications and surgery. I have also noted that my primary care physician always obtained a comprehensive view of current symptoms as well as lifestyle practices. I believe that these two views allows her to detect any interconnections and assess any underlying causes

I first learned about osteopathic medicine through admissions workshop in graduate school. Osteopathic medicine’s emphasis on primary care and helping medically underserved communities truly appealed to me. As I delved further about its philosophy in the books, I am also interested by the fact that osteopathic physicians are trained to focus on health, not the disease. This will improve the overall well-being of a patient and prevent diseases. In Burma, I faced the challenges of substandard health care and education, without clean water, food or public sanitation. All these experiences, complicated by my bouts of tuberculosis and typhoid taught me at a young age to appreciate the value of a healthy life.

Since I was five, I knew that I wanted to be a doctor of some sort, so I started to prepare myself for medical school. I volunteered at one of the local hospitals, joined clubs that were specific to the medical field, shadowed different professions in the medical field yet, in all those experiences, I had never heard of osteopathy. I had no clue that osteopathic medicine existed until I saw an osteopathic school at a college fair. The admissions women and I had a conversation about medical school, and she suggested an osteopathic route instead. She gave me a pamphlet and when I went home, I tossed it out. To be honest, I thought that osteopathy was for people who could not get accepted into medical school. Osteopathy lingered around in the

Osteopathic medicine prides itself on being able to “recognize the body’s ability to regulate itself and mount its own defences against most pathologic conditions” (DiGiovanna, Schiowitz, & Dowling, 2005) Homeostasis can be referred to as the “maintenance of static or constant conditions in the internal environment.” (Guyton & Hall, 2000) In conjunction with the Osteopathic principles, the osteopathic profession aims to regulate the bodies natural function including the use of osteopathic techniques to maintain the health and homeostasis of patients. This “dynamic state of equilibrium” (Marieb, 2015) has narrow limits of which the internal and external cellular fluids may fluctuate with the aim of maintaining an unchanged state. Maintaining

Dr. Brion Benninger, a professor and executive director at COMP-Northwest, wrote an article titled, “Cultivating the Osteopathic Identity: Maintaining Humanism while Advancing Science” for Western University’s 18th volume of Humanism. A MD himself, Dr. Benninger (2015) describes Humanism as “paramount in the osteopathic medicine identity” (p. 14) and applauds osteopathy for its focus on the quality of an individual’s lifestyle. Because many osteopathic colleges emphasize care for the underserved and rural populations, students of osteopathy learn effective communication with people of different cultures and backgrounds. They must understand people as individuals who are uniquely impacted by their communities and personal beliefs. By appreciating the diversity one person possesses, the osteopathic physician is able to effectively treat the whole person and give an individual the tools to make informed decisions and lead a successful, healthy life.

Each and every day, whether it is one individual cell to an entire structure, our body is in motion. Our stomach churns, blood pulses through our veins, our lungs expand and contract and our heart beats to a rhythm. From birth to death tissues of the human organism are in motion- developing, differentiating, adapting, evolving and degrading.

With a strong desire to help others as a physician, it was natural for me to gravitate toward osteopathic medicine when Hiram graduate, Tammy Guseman, talked to us about her great experiences at Pikeville’s KYCOM. The ideas of holistic care, preventative medicine, and hands-on treatment resonated with who I am.

An osteopath is a well trained and qualified professional who evaluates and diagnoses the body posture. People who are suffering from back pain, neck pain, repetitive strain injuries, tennis elbow, sciatica, knee and shoulder sprains, or disc injuries can consult a reputed osteopath in Toronto for the best care.