Fifty years ago, the American Osteopathic Association established a policy that the term osteopathic medicine should replace of the term osteopathy.
During the AOA House of Delegates' meeting in 1960, a principal argument proffered for considering the policy was that the term
osteopathy is considered by many to be restrictive and suggests limited training and restrictive privileges (as in foreign-trained osteopaths). As a result, a policy was adopted that the terms
osteopath and
osteopathy be reserved for “historical, sentimental, and informal discussions only.”
1
By the late 1970s, colleges of osteopathy had changed their names to colleges of osteopathic medicine, and several years later, the colleges adjusted the degree designation from doctor of osteopathy to doctor of osteopathic medicine. Most osteopathic medical associations adopted the change in terminology.
Today, only the American Academy of Osteopathy continues to use
osteopathy in its name. In addition, the
Glossary of Osteopathic Terminology2 makes an exception for the term
osteopathy in the cranial field, which describes the palpatory techniques and osteopathic manipulative treatment used to assess cranial dysfunction and to treat patients with such dysfunction.
In 1993, I wrote the editorial
1 that is reprinted on this page to outline in
JAOA—The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association the reasons that AOA publications follow the AOA's 1960 mandate in preferred terminology. However, some osteopathic physicians continue to use outdated terms. So it is not a surprise that patients still do not realize that we are fully licensed physicians.
Words have meaning. Is it not time for the entire osteopathic medical profession to join together to erase the confusion that still exists because of the continued use of confusing terminology?