Advancing a traditional view of osteopathic medicine through clinical practice.

Abstract

The author asserts that the distinctiveness of osteopathic medicine has been long established in the profession's tradition of clinical practice-a tradition that has been consistently reinforced in the literature with official statements of osteopathic medicine's philosophy and tenets. Indeed, the original impetus for the establishment of osteopathic medicine in the late 19th century was an ambitious one-a wholesale reformation of the practice of medicine in the United States so as to address what was then a major public health issue: musculoskeletal disorder in a mainly agrarian nation. The author argues that the profession will once again reach the level of its own ambition to become a reforming influence within the practice of medidne only when we can demonstrate treatment outcomes that are relevant to today's public health issues.