People always ask me, "What is an Osteopath?" or "How are you different?"

   The short answer - the wrong answer is "D.O.s are doctors that give treatments." In reality, it is a lot more. D.O.s live by a couple guiding principles:

1. The Body is a "Whole." You can't take the disease out of the patient, why take the patient out of the disease. The common sentiment in medicine is "Pneumonia in room 2." NO! There is a person, who may have pneumonia. You can't separate out the disease from the person. Everything works together, in sickness and in health (now where have I heard that before?)
2. If you can give the Body a chance, it can heal itself. The human body works on a complex system of checks and balances. It can be self-regulating and self-healing given the chance. In other words, treat everything together, because a problem in one part of the body affects all the other parts as well.
3. In order for the body to function at it's best, you must maintain adequate blood and nervous function to all parts. If you don't have nutrients to the area, and if the body's investigation network is not function, self-regulation and self-healing will not take place.

If you want to read more about these principles, here is a historical piece that says it about as well as anything I have come across.