History

The Beginning: Andrew Taylor Still

The origins of osteopathic medicine are credited to Andrew Taylor Still, a licensed medical doctor in Missouri, as the first to articulate his ideas on improving the medical practice of his day. That was in 1874. Most doctors at that time practiced "allopathy," a term coined to describe "regular" physicians who were treating patients with massive doses of drugs. In those days, all medical practices were primitive. Anesthetics, for example, were just beginning to be used for surgery.

New Ideas, New Applications

After three of his children died of spinal meningitis, Dr. Still was driven to find a better way to practice medicine. He believed that most physicians were preoccupied with the specific disease, instead of concentrating on disease prevention and conditions for health. Close examination of the body's structure and function showed Dr. Still that abnormal blood and nerve supplies caused some dysfunctions or alteration in the musculoskeletal system and were often present in diseased or abnormal tissue and organs. He determined that the physician could make the body healthier by removing or changing whatever was blocking the circulatory or nervous system.