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About Us Leadership & Policy Governance Documents Tenets of Osteopathic Medicine

Tenets of Osteopathic Medicine

Mind, body, spirit

Explore the philosophy behind the practice of osteopathic medicine

DOs are trained to promote the body's natural tendency toward self-healing and health.

The Tenets of Osteopathic Medicine express the underlying philosophy of osteopathic medicine and were approved by the AOA House of Delegates as policy.

  1. The body is a unit; the person is a unit of body, mind, and spirit.

  2. The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health maintenance.

  3. Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.

  4. Rational treatment is based upon an understanding of the basic principles of body unity, self-regulation, and the interrelationship of structure and function.


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