Day 1_ Osteopathic Medicine - A Historical Journey by Mark R. Gugel (1)

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School

Michigan State University *

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Course

401

Subject

Medicine

Date

Oct 30, 2023

Type

docx

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Uploaded by BailiffLark3754

The history of osteopathy is quite interesting. It started off with Allopathic medicine which was fewer medications but they practiced heroic therapies which included purging, blistering, and draining blood. Dr. Gugel told us the story of George Washington and about how they “tried” to treat him through these methods. It was fascinating to hear this because the way that Dr. Gugel explained the ways that the doctors at the time were treating people kept me on the edge of my seat. The doctors started to realize that these methods do not work and it was more so that their patients would die regardless so Samuel Hahnemann created Homeopathy in Germany while Hans Gram introduced it in America in the 1800’s. I believe that this was a good turning point because this type of medicine would cause much less harm to the body as it would be natural remedies. I feel as though if I was living during this time, I would have preferred homeopathic medicine over heroic therapy but that could be because of hindsight bias since I know about the results from techniques used in the past and now. Another thing that is interesting is that Andew Taylor Still invented the Osteopathic Philosophy which consisted of principles that the body is a unit of body, mind and spirit, that the body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health maintenances, and that the structure and function of the body are reciprocally interrelated. One of the reasons that I wanted to go into the medical field and become a DO is because of the principle that we treat the whole body rather than just the symptoms or the part that is injured. It is important to have the whole body healed rather than just one part and then have it cause problems elsewhere. Another reason why I love osteopathic medicine is OMT which is Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment. This consists of aiding patients in preventing disease and returning to normal function faster in the presence of disease/injury, building patient rapport with the power of touch and the sense of caring, and decreasing the need for medication. When we practiced OMT in the lab, it was captivating to see how the medical students would work on our bodies and help us heal faster. We learned about flexion and extension as well as finding impurities in our spine through two techniques. An example was given of a fracture that usually takes 7-11 months to heal while with OMT, it takes 1-2 months to heal. I believe that the importance of OMT and osteopathic medicine in general is significant. It allows better patient interactions and speeds up the healing process while treating the entire body, mind, and spirit.

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