Osteopathy was founded by Andrew Taylor Still, M.D., D.O., who was born in 1828 in Virginia, in reaction to what he perceived as inadequate medical treatment of his day. Specifically, he believed that other conventionally trained physicians over-prescribed to patients harsh and often toxic medications. He invented the name “osteopathy” by blending two Greek roots osteon- for bone and -pathos for suffering in order to communiciate his theory that disease and physiologic dysfunction were etiologically grounded in a disordered musculoskeletal system. Thus, by diagnosing and treating the musculoskeletal system, he believed that physicians could treat a variety of diseases and spare patients the negative side-effects of drugs. He intended his new system of medicine to be a reformation of the existing 19th century medical practices he knew and imagined that someday “rational medical therapy” would consist of manipulation of the musculoskeletal system, surgery, and very sparingly used drugs (for example, antiseptics, ointments, or laxatives).

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