As Osteopathy developed it split into two branches that share a common philosophy but use different approaches to provide osteopathic healthcare to an ever increasing proportion of the public.

The world wide alliance of osteopathic organizations is called the Osteopathic International Alliance, it outlines the difference between the two streams and calls them Osteopathic Physicians and Osteopaths.

An Osteopath has achieved a nationally recognized academic qualification enabling them to practice manual therapy based upon the principles of osteopathic philosophy and does not have full medical practice rights.  In order to avoid any confusion this Association encourages its non-medically trained members to use the title manual osteopaths or osteopathic manual practitioners.

An Osteopathic Physician is a graduate of an American College of Osteopathy.  They have full medical practice rights and have achieved the nationally recognized academic qualifications within his or her country.  They can use both conventional medicine and manual therapy within the principles of osteopathic philosophy.

Worldwide

Most countries have a nationwide governing body that sets the guidelines for osteopathic practice. For example in Britain Osteopathy is regulated by the General Osteopathic Council and only people who graduate from schools accredited from this council are able to call themselves Osteopaths.  This type of organization is the case for many European countries as well as Australia and New Zealand.  Osteopaths in these countries are all exclusively manually trained with high standards of clinical skills in diagnosis and treatment of neuro-musculo-skeletal problems.

In Canada

To explain the current situation it is useful to take a brief look at the history of Osteopathy in Canada.  As there were (and still are) no schools teaching Osteopathic Physicians in Canada they worked hard to get medical practice rights for physicians that have graduated from U.S medical schools approved by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA). The Osteopathic Physicians were striving for recognition long before manual Osteopaths became a significant part of the therapeutic community.  At the time there was no need to make a distinction between the two branches, therefore to protect themselves and the public they lobbied hard for protection of the title Osteopath.  So far, in most provinces, these laws have not been changed and it is still illegal to call yourself an Osteopath unless you have been trained at a medical school in the U.S.

Despite this there are a number of successful schools that teach manual Osteopathy.  The entry requirements for these schools are that the students must have a previous qualification in manual therapy, like physio or athletic therapy.  The courses are generally 4 years long and as a result they produce highly trained manual practitioners. The numbers of graduates grow every year and at present manual Osteopaths far out number the Osteopathic physicians in nearly all provinces.

In Alberta

In Alberta the title osteopath is protected by the Health Professions Act.  This means that only licensed medically trained Osteopathic Physicians can use it. For this reason we use the title osteopathic manual therapists to differentiate ourselves.

The Future

Alberta is a member of the newly formed Canadian Federation of Osteopathy (CFO).  The CFO was formed to unite manual Osteopaths across Canada.  Membership is open to any province with an Association.  It will provide voluntary guidelines on education and best practice enabling Canada to come inline with other countries and have manual osteopathy as a regulated health profession alongside the medically trained osteopathic physicians.

This Association

This AAOMT is a first step in the organization and regulation of manual practice osteopathic therapists in Alberta.  It agrees with and meets the Osteopathic International Alliance and World Osteopathic Health Organization in both the definitions of an Osteopath and an Osteopathic Physician and the minimum educational requirements for both.  In order to support both these organizations and further Osteopathy in Canada the AAOMT will be taking all the steps necessary to get manual Osteopathy recognized and protected both nationally and provincially.