Andrew Taylor Still, M.D. D.O. (1828-1917),

Osteopathic medicine is a distinctive form of medical care developed in 1874 by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, who pioneered the concept of "wellness" and recognized the importance of treating illness within the context of the whole body.

Andrew Taylor Still was born in Virginia in 1828. After studying medicine and serving an apprenticeship under his physician father, Still became a licensed M.D. He went on to serve as a surgeon in the Union Army during the Civil War. After the Civil War and following the death of three of his children from spinal meningitis in 1864, Dr. Still concluded that the orthodox medical practices of his day were frequently ineffective, and sometimes harmful.

He devoted the next ten years to studying the nature of health, the human body and finding better ways to treat disease. A. T. Still dissected numerous cadavers and observed that wherever he saw diseased tissue or organs there was invariably evidence of abnormal blood or nerve supply, which seemed to be related to dysfunction or alteration of structure. His research and clinical observations led him to believe that the musculoskeletal system played a vital role in health and disease and that the body contained all of the elements needed to maintain health.

Dr. Still believed that by correcting problems in the body's structure, through the use of manual techniques now known as osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), the body's ability to function and to heal itself could be greatly improved. He also promoted the idea of preventive medicine and endorsed the philosophy that physicians should focus on treating the whole patient, rather than just the disease.