UpClose & Personal - Perspectives

Spa Industry In 1937 sixty-six physicians, concerned about ensuring the future teaching of the basic osteopathic principles set forth by Andrew Taylor Still, met and founded the organization now called, The American Academy of Osteopathy® (AAO). Since that time, the Academy has grown to over 4,500 physician and student members, all of whom are dedicated to following and teaching the preventive and holistic philosophies of medicine, which are osteopathy’s trademark. With an emphasis on palpatory diagnosis and manual medicine, members of the Academy are known for being physicians who use their hands as well as their heads and hearts to help the body heal.

The Academy is one of 22 practice affiliates of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) in Chicago, the parent organization of the osteopathic profession. All U.S. trained osteopathic physicians (DOs) are educated in the basic principles of osteopathy and are trained in the use of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) as part of the curriculum in colleges of osteopathic medicine and post-doctoral training in AOA-approved institutions. While some of the Academy’s physician members specialize in osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) or neuromusculoskeletal (NMM) and OMM, the majority integrate the practice of OMM in a variety of osteopathic medical specialties, especially family practice.

Primarily an educational organization, the Academy’s Board of Governors in 1998 adopted a strategic plan, which strives to maintain the Academy as a resource of educational excellence on osteopathy. The original 1992 long-range plan included a goal to establish the AAO as the preeminent, worldwide source of education on “osteopathy” by the year 2000. In this context, osteopathy is defined as the basic osteopathic principles, palpatory diagnosis and OMT.

The Academy’s educational ventures include:
(1) Sponsorship of continuing medical education (CME) programs in OMM
(2) Publications relating to OMM
(3) Outreach programs to preserve and advance osteopathic medicine as a “separate and distinct” mainstream medical profession.
(4)
The Academy sponsors CME programs, which serve two purposes, a comprehensive review of NMM/OMM and preparation of physicians who elect to sit for certification examinations conducted by the American Osteopathic Board of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine (AOBNMM) and the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians (AOBFP).

The Academy’s Strategic Plan includes goals to sponsor a variety of continuing medical education programs, which meet the needs of AAO members. These introductory, intermediate and advanced OMM programs vary in size and geographical location to accommodate all osteopathic physicians who wish to improve their uniquely osteopathic skills.

The Academy also has designed outreach programs to improve integration of osteopathic principles and practice (OPP) and OMT in Osteopathic Postdoctoral Training Institutions (OPTIs.) For example, the Education Committee offers a series of five, one-day programs specifically for DMEs, residency directors and residents is offered to OPTI programs, hospitals, and state or specialty societies on request.

In 1942, the Academy published the first of its series of “Yearbooks” which are collections of articles relating to OMM, including original articles, others reprinted from medical publications, unpublished papers and lectures. Thirteen of these Yearbooks are still in print and available to all osteopathic physicians.

More recently, the AAO has become a publisher of original works and others, which are no longer in print, e.g. An Endocrine Interpretation of Chapman’s Reflexes and several of A.T. Still’s original works.

There are currently 17 AAO publications in print, including the most recently published work An Encyclopedia of Osteopathy by Eileen DiGiovanna, DO, FAAO; The Osteopathic Principles and Practices Review Book for Levels One, Two and Three COMLEX - USA EXAM by William Thomas Crow, DO; The Still Technique Manual by Richard VanBuskirk, DO, FAAO and Bioelectric Fascial Activation and Release by Judith A. O’Connell, DO, FAAO.

The AAO has also become a distributor for 15 other works printed by small publishers, e.g. Hildreth’s The Lengthening Shadow of AT. Still and Jones’ Strain-Counter Strain by Lawrence H. Jones, DO, FAAO. While this does not represent all of the osteopathic literature in print, it does cover the waterfront of OMM publications.

In 1991, the Academy published the first issue of The AAO Journal, which has earned profession-wide acclamation for its quality. Raymond J. Hruby, DO, FAAO served as the first editor of this quarterly publication and elevated the journal to a juried publication on OMM, a move which is expected to expand the publication to all physicians interested in “manual medicine”. Current Editor Anthony Chila, DO, FAAO was appointed as it’s second editor in 2000 and has continued to form this journal into an internationally- recognized publication. The Board of Trustees added in 1993, The AAO Newsletter, which is considered the official organ of communication to AAO members and is published eight times annually.

The Academy does not operate in isolation; on the contrary, the AAO has designed outreach programs for the purpose of preserving and advancing osteopathic funded under a $25,000 grant from the American Osteopathic Foundation. Clinicians with recognized OMM teaching skills travel to the campuses of the colleges of osteopathic medicine as visiting lecturers to supplement the OMM curriculum in those schools and motivate students to appropriately utilize palpatory diagnosis and OMT in the care of patients.

For more information on the American Academy of Osteopathy, visit its website: www.academyofosteopathy.org