Osteopathic medicine is a branch of the medical profession

Profession

A profession is a vocation founded upon specialized educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain....

 in the United States. Osteopathic physicians, known as DOs

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine

Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine is a professional doctoral degree for physicians in the United States. Holders of the MD degree, Doctor of Medicine, have the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as osteopathic physicians in the United States.The American Osteopathic Association’s Commission...

, are licensed to practice medicine and surgery in all 50 states and are recognized in forty-seven other countries, including most Canadian provinces

Provinces and territories of Canada

The provinces and territories of Canada combine to make up the world's second-largest country by area. There are ten provinces and three territories...

.

Frontier

Frontier

A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. 'Frontier' was absorbed into English from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"--the region of a country that fronts on another country .The use of "frontier" to mean "a region at the...

 physician Andrew Taylor Still

Andrew Taylor Still

Andrew Taylor Still is considered the father of osteopathy and osteopathic medicine. He was also a physician & surgeon, author, inventor and Kansas territorial & state legislator. He was one of the founders of Baker University, the oldest 4-year college in the state of Kansas, and was the founder...

 founded the profession as a radical rejection of the prevailing system of medical thought of the 19th century.