Faculty Contribution
31 Michael D. Lockwood, DO, FCA Professor of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, College of Osteopathic Medicine
THE CALLING AND VOCATION OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE: WHO AM I THAT THE LORD, GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, WOULD CARE? Osteopathic medicine is a uniquely American reformation in medical care that teaches the body, mind, and spirit as one. Osteopathic care is driven by a patientcentered model where personalization, precision, and individualization of medical care is core. As the medical saying goes, “anyone can find disease.” What is left unsaid is that cultivating health is much more difficult. This pursuit to embrace health is what motivated Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of osteopathic medicine.
on healing rather than simply diagnosis and symptom management. Then and today the temptation with every health malady is to enthusiastically embrace the “magic bullet” solutions available. A common and unrealistic expectation is that every medical problem has a solution in either pharmaceuticals or surgery. Additionally, such solutions are often provided even when the underlying problem may not be medicinal or one necessitating a scalpel.
Still was born in Lee County, Virginia, the son of a Methodist Episcopal minister and physician. AT, as he was known, suffered significant life tragedies which included the loss of six of his children to illnesses of the time. Because of his personal struggle and despair with the medical care of his day, he sought an alternate philosophy to the practice of medicine that focused
Health struggles are external and internal, muscularskeletal-fascial, structural, metabolic, neurologic, vascular, lymphatic, mental, spiritual, and sometimes seem irrational. Recognizing the comprehensive nature of healing human beings clarifies the philosophical convictions of osteopathic tasks. Osteopathic Physicians are convictionally called to healing. They
