Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO or D.O., or in Australia DO USA) is a medical degree conferred by the 44 osteopathic medical schools in the United States, operating at 71 teaching locations across 36 states. As of 2026, nearly 30% of all U.S. medical students are earning a DO degree, and over 11% of all practicing U.S. physicians hold the DO degree. The curricula at DO-granting medical schools are equivalent to those at MD-granting medical schools, which focus the first two years on the biomedical and clinical sciences, then two years on core clinical training in the clinical specialties.

One notable difference between DO and MD training is that DOs spend an additional 300–500 hours to study pseudoscientific hands-on manipulation of the human musculoskeletal system (osteopathic manipulative technique) alongside conventional evidence-based medicine and surgery like their MD peers. However, most DOs do not practice this manipulation. Upon completing medical school, a DO graduate can enter an internship or residency training program, which may be followed by fellowship training. DO graduates attend the same graduate medical education programs as their MD counterparts.

History

Osteopathy, the older form of osteopathic medicine, began in the United States in 1874. The term "osteopathy" was coined by the physician and surgeon Andrew Taylor Still, who named his new discipline of medicine "osteopathy", reasoning that "the bone, osteon, was the starting point from which [he] was to ascertain the cause of pathological conditions". He founded the American School of Osteopathy (now A.T. Still University of the Health Sciences) in Kirksville, Missouri, for the teaching of osteopathy on May 10, 1892.