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[[File:Andrew_Taylor_Still_1914.jpg|left|thumbnail|250px|Andrew Taylor Still, founder of the Osteopathic Medicine in 1914]]
By Clinton SandvickIn the last quarter of the 19th Century in the United States, Osteopathy posed a significant challenge to existing physicians. At the end of the 19th century, medicine in America was dominated by three separate competing medical sects - regular (M.D.), homeopaths and eclectic physicians. Each sect advanced competing theories explaining the causes of disease and illness. The emerging science surrounding germ theory threatened to upend the medical doctrine of all three sects. Osteopaths, on the other hand, dismissed scientific medicine entirely. Osteopaths manipulated the body to treat their patient's health. Because of Osteopaths ' unusual treatments, the newly created medical licensing boards around the United States struggled with whether their practice constituted the practice of medicine.
In response to Osteopaths and other new medical sects, state licensing and examining boards tried to bring new drugless specialties such as Osteopathy, under their purview by expanding the definition of practicing medicine. Regardless of the treatment protocol, licensing boards insisted that these care providers were practicing medicine under existing medical practice acts. The medical boards were concerned enough by Osteopaths, they began prosecuting specialists who did not secure licenses under existing laws. Osteopaths, Christian Scientists, opticians, midwives, and other medical professionals all came within the crosshairs of licensing authorities after they expanded their interpretation of the “practice of medicine.” Osteopaths and Christian Scientists received extra attention because they were perceived by the three major sects as the greatest threats to their control over licensing.<ref> Allan McLane Hamilton, Md., Lawrence Godkin, Esq, eds. William A. Purrington, Esq., “Of Certain Legal Relations of Physicians and Surgeons to Their Patients and to One Another,” A System of Legal Medicine, Vol. 1, (New York, E.B. Treat 1895), 595-598.</ref>
====The Birth of Osteopathy====
Andrew Taylor Still, a former Regular physician from Missouri, developed the treatments that morphed into Osteopathy during the 1870s and 1880s. In 1874, Still renounced Regular medicine and became a magnetic healer. Magnetic healers passed magnets over a patient’s body to restore the flow of the “invisible magnetic fluid” that circulated throughout the body. Magnetic healing was developed in Austria in the late eighteenth century and migrated to the United States. Magnetic healers postulated that people became ill when this fluid pooled inside the body instead of flowing freely.<ref> Gevitz, Norman, <i>The DOs: Osteopathic Medicine in America</i>, 2nd edition, (John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1982, 2004), 13-15. </ref>
While practicing magnetic healing, Still added bonesetting to his practice to attract more patients. Bonesetters alleviated pain by moving bones back into alignment. Bonesetting had been practiced since colonial times, and these specialists were dispersed widely throughout the country. After learning the bonesetter trade, Still became convinced that bonesetting could do more than just address simple aches and pain. He argued that it had the potential to cure chronic conditions such as asthma.<ref>Gevitz, 17-19</ref>
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