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 Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 6
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.22

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    abbreviation, happening, musculoskeletal, osteopaths, controversy, physician, podiatrists, meaning, thorough, meantime, appointment, better, injury, medical, during, early
     content words:    While Christine, Andrew Taylor Still, Civil War, American School

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Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine
By Jennifer Kenny 		  
1     Christine's mother had a doctor's appointment. While Christine and her father were waiting for her, they decided to walk around the medical building. As they did, Christine took note of the kinds of practices in the building - eye doctors, podiatrists, pediatricians, etc. As they wandered back to where they had started, Christine took notice of the names on the door of the office in which her mother had entered. After five of the doctors' names, there was the abbreviation M.D. for doctor of medicine. However, after her mother's personal physician's name it said D.O. That was odd, at least to Christine.
 
2     "Dad," Christine said. "I know M.D. means doctor of medicine. What does D.O. stand for?"
 
3     "D.O. stands for doctor of osteopathic medicine," Dad answered.
 
4     "Why is Mom seeing a weird person?" Christine asked.
 
5     Dad responded, "She isn't. A D.O. is a physician, too."
 
6     "Why does it sound so weird then?" Christine questioned.
 
7     "A doctor named Dr. Andrew Taylor Still came up with the name. It came from two Greek words, "osteon-" meaning bone and "-pathos" meaning suffering," Dad said.
 
8     "Who was this doctor?" Christine inquired.
 
9     "He was a medical doctor who was helping patients during the Civil War. He didn't like the practices the doctors were carrying out such as purging and leeching. Instead, he focused on ways the body could heal itself and ways to prevent disease and injury. He believed that the muscles, nerves, bones, and organs were all related. He started the American School of Osteopathy in Missouri," Dad said. "In fact, then, Dr. Still was an M.D. and a D.O. As time went on, some stayed true and others blended the ideas. In the early 20th century, the American osteopathic professions agreed to use medicine and surgery."

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