Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs) are fully licensed and recognized physicians and surgeons. While attending their own medical schools, DOs have the same academic requirements as their MD colleagues and receive an additional 300 plus hours of study in the musculoskeletal system. DOs practice in all specialties of medicine, including family practice, emergency medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and surgery. Some osteopaths incorporate some osteopathic techniques into their medical practice. A small percentage of osteopaths, like Dr. Giovanis pursue traditional osteopathic medicine as their specialty.

Having a long tradition, Osteopathic medicine is as American as apple pie.  It was founded on the Missouri frontier in the 1800’s by Andrew Taylor Still, M.D. He was an army surgeon and an abolitionist during the Civil War. He became discouraged with the ineffectiveness of traditional medicine at the time. He saw many people die, including his own wife and three children, of serious diseases.

In response, Dr. Still eventually founded a new approach to medicine, with its focus on body unity and the body’s innate ability to heal. His study began with the bones (osteo), hence the name “osteopathy,” but was not limited to them. He studied anatomy and the nature of health and illness. Dr. Still determined that the musculoskeletal system is central to the patient’s well being. He looked at the body as a highly complex machine and found that its homeostasis was disrupted by structural abnormalities. Besides being prone to mechanical disorders, Dr. Still discovered that the musculoskeletal system reflects internal illness and may aggravate or accelerate a disease process in other body systems, such as the circulatory, lymphatic, respiratory or nervous system. He found that the human body, just like any other machine, required proper alignment for optimal functioning. With his intense study of anatomy, he developed manual treatments to enhance nature’s own ability to heal. The focus was to look for the health.

Today osteopathic physicians continue to use these viable and proven techniques to help every patient function at his or her highest level of efficiency. Because osteopathic physicians have all the medical pharmacopeia, nutritional science and full medical training at their disposal, an individual treatment may include a wide range of approaches but will always be founded on gentle hands-on work.

With gentle and very specific hand contact, Dr Giovanis continues to help patients heal by addressing the structure and function relationships in their bodies.