“Not a Real Doctor”? What a DO Is and When to See One in St. Louis
Revised October 11, 2026
What’s the difference between a regular doctor and an osteopathic doctor?
Both are licensed physicians: a DO can practice medicine, perform surgery and prescribe, and like MDs is licensed at the state level. An MD earns a doctor of medicine degree; a DO earns a doctor of osteopathic medicine degree, with extra training in the musculoskeletal system and hands-on osteopathic manipulative treatment, or OMT.
Keep reading ↓Your thumb stops over two letters. You’ve scrolled the insurance app for twenty minutes, a family doctor in St. Peters finally has a Tuesday opening, and next to the name it says D.O., not M.D. There’s that small cold drop in the stomach, the one you get when you think you grabbed the store brand by mistake. Is this a real doctor?
Yes. Say this out loud the next time somebody at Thanksgiving calls a DO “not a real doctor”: the Missouri board that licenses every MD in this state has nine seats, and by law at least two of them must go to graduates of osteopathic schools. DOs don’t just get checked here. They help do the checking.
And those two letters are about as Missouri as toasted ravioli. On November 1, 1892, Andrew Taylor Still opened the American School of Osteopathy in Kirksville, now A.T. Still University, and began teaching osteopathy. By the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, the profession he started had its own “Osteopathy Day.” St. Louis was cheering for DOs more than a century before that app made you hesitate.
You can settle the worry before you tap Book, with one short phone call. Missouri licenses its physicians through the Missouri Board of Registration for the Healing Arts. Its main line is 573-751-0290: give them the doctor’s full name and ask them to confirm the license. Then call the office itself and ask: Are you in my network? When’s the next new-patient opening? Does the doctor perform OMT, the hands-on treatment DOs train in? Get those answers, and you can put the phone down and finish your coffee.
What’s the difference between a regular doctor and an osteopathic doctor?
Both are licensed physicians: a DO can practice medicine, perform surgery and prescribe, and like MDs is licensed at the state level. An MD earns a doctor of medicine degree; a DO earns a doctor of osteopathic medicine degree, with extra training in the musculoskeletal system and hands-on osteopathic manipulative treatment, or OMT.
Drop the word “regular.” It’s doing the damage. A DO finishes four years of osteopathic medical school, then three to eight more years of internship, residency and fellowship, according to the American Osteopathic Association. Like every physician in the country, a DO is licensed by a state board. On the Missouri side of the river, that’s the Board of Registration for the Healing Arts, which by state law licenses all physicians and surgeons, the MD down the hall included.
Residency training is shared now, too. On June 30, 2020, a five-year transition ended and the ACGME became the single accreditor for both DO and MD residencies and fellowships. The cardiologist who reads your stress test and the surgeon who fixes your knee may have trained shoulder to shoulder, in the same program, under the same rules. Which letters they ended up with tells you where they went to medical school. It doesn’t tell you who’s better.
So what’s actually different? The extra hours a DO spent learning the body’s nerves, muscles and bones with their hands. And a philosophy that leans on the whole person, prevention and how one complaint ties into the rest of you. Plenty of MDs work that way too. You won’t hear the difference in the stethoscope’s cold press on your back. You might feel it when the doctor asks how you sleep, then puts a hand on the shoulder you never mentioned.
A Missouri invention that St. Louis cheered in Forest Park
Most people meet osteopathic medicine as a footnote. Around here it’s hometown history. Still was teaching in Kirksville when the profession barely had a name, and unlike many medical schools of his day, his let women and African Americans enroll. By 1904 it had an “Osteopathy Day” at the St. Louis World’s Fair. Think of that the next time you jog past the Grand Basin and hear the fountains slap the water.
Why does that matter to you, standing in a waiting room off Kingshighway with a clipboard and a pen on a chain? Because the “is it legit?” worry is more than a century out of date. Kirksville has been teaching osteopathy since November 1, 1892. The doubt you feel isn’t a warning sign. It’s just unfamiliarity.
What OMT feels like on the table
The paper on the exam table crinkles when you lie back. Then a pair of warm hands finds the spot on your lower back that’s been barking since you shoveled the driveway. That’s osteopathic manipulative treatment: a DO uses their hands to move, stretch and press on muscles, joints and connective tissue, sometimes asking you to push gently against their hand while they hold still.
Most people expect a loud crack. Often there isn’t one. Many OMT techniques are slow and steady, more lean and hold than snap, though it depends on the physician and the problem. Afterward you sit up and notice you can turn your head to check the blind spot again without that wince.
Here’s the honest catch. Not every DO does OMT every day. A DO running an emergency department or reading scans may rarely use it, while another builds a whole practice around it. If the hands-on part is why you’re calling, ask the front desk before you book: does this physician perform OMT, and for what kinds of complaints? A good DO will also tell you plainly when OMT isn’t the right tool for what you’ve got.
The stiff back in Alton: DO, chiropractor, or both?
Maybe you’re the one in Alton who’s spent months easing out of the truck one leg at a time. You’ve been to a chiropractor. You keep hearing “osteopath” and can’t tell if it’s the same thing with a fancier name.
It isn’t, and Missouri law spells out the line in plain words. The state’s chiropractic statute says it “shall not include the use of operative surgery, obstetrics, osteopathy, podiatry, nor the administration or prescribing of any drug or medicine.” A DO can do all of that, plus order the MRI and do hands-on work in the same visit. That doesn’t make the DO automatically the right pick. It means a DO can look at the whole problem, pills and imaging and manual treatment included, and send you where you need to go next. If you’re weighing the two, our guide to how to choose a chiropractor in St. Louis lists the questions worth asking either one.
Not your back but your gut that’s keeping you up? Here’s what a gastroenterologist does and when to see one.
When a DO is the right first call
Anytime you’d call an MD. A checkup, a cough that won’t quit, blood pressure that crept up, a referral, a surgery. In Ferguson, a mom booking her teenager’s sports physical can hand over the form to a DO without a second thought: the exam, the clearance and the signature count the same. Where a DO pulls ahead is when your complaint lives in your muscles and joints and you’d like the option of hands-on care from someone who can also write the prescription.
Picking a first-contact doctor is its own job, whatever the letters. Our walkthrough on how to find a primary care doctor in St. Louis covers networks, wait times and fit, and every word of it applies to a DO.
Will your plan pay for a DO?
If you’re retired in Granite City and dreading one more surprise bill before you switch doctors, here’s the short answer: a DO is a licensed physician, so the question is never “does my plan take DOs?” It’s “is this particular practice in my network?” Same question you’d ask about any MD.
The one wrinkle is OMT itself. It’s billed with its own procedure codes, the 98925 through 98929 range. That means a plan can set its own rules for it: a visit limit, a prior authorization, a different copay. We won’t guess at a number, because it changes plan to plan. Turn your card over, call the member line and say “osteopathic manipulative treatment” out loud. Don’t settle for “office visits are covered.”
Pick the doctor like you’re hiring, not shopping
Once the license checks out, the letters stop mattering and the practical stuff takes over. Does the practice take your plan? Is it taking new patients? Is the drive one you’ll actually make on a sleety February morning? An office in Bridgeton you show up to beats a better one you keep cancelling. And if a neighbor in St. Peters swears by a doctor who sat down, looked at them and explained things, that counts for a lot.
What to bring to the first appointment
The night before, the questions get loud. You lie there running through the list in your head and forget half of it by morning. So write it down. Bring your insurance card and photo ID, every pill bottle you take or a phone photo of each label, and a short note on when the problem started and what makes it worse. If your back or neck is the reason you booked, write down the exact moment it hurts: getting out of the car, the third stair, rolling over at 3 a.m. Doctors work faster with a moment than with “it just hurts.”
If you’re hoping for OMT on day one, ask when you schedule whether the doctor does it at a first visit and whether you should wear loose, stretchy clothes. Some offices will want to examine you and talk first, then treat at a follow-up. Knowing that ahead of time saves you the letdown of driving home still stiff, thinking the whole thing was a waste. It wasn’t. It was step one.
And if you are weighing which big St. Louis hospital to head for, here is how the largest hospitals in Missouri compare and what each one is for.
And ask the question that made you hesitate in the first place. “What does being a DO mean for how you’ll treat me?” A good doctor won’t flinch. Most will be glad you asked, and the answer tells you a lot about whether you’ll feel heard in that room for years to come.
The letters were never the problem - the fit is. Browse osteopathic physicians on St Louis Near Me Directory, pick the two closest to the route you already drive, check each name with the state board, and call both before lunch.
If you’re the shop, the clinic or the solo DO those patients are calling, be the name they land on. The people scrolling an insurance app at 10 p.m. with a sore back are already looking for someone like you, and they pick the practice they can see. Add your practice and get more customers from the neighbors already looking.
Frequently asked questions
Why would someone see an osteopathic doctor?
For the same reasons you’d see any physician: a checkup, a chronic illness, a new symptom or a referral. Some people pick a DO on purpose for the whole-person approach or for hands-on osteopathic manipulative treatment. Others just find a DO who’s in network, close by and has the soonest opening.
Does insurance cover osteopathic doctors?
A DO is a licensed physician, so the real question is whether that specific practice is in your network. OMT is billed with its own procedure codes, so your plan may set its own limits, authorization or copay for it. Call the member number on your card and ask about OMT by name.
What are the pros and cons of osteopathy?
The upside: a DO can prescribe, order imaging, refer and operate, and may also offer hands-on OMT under one roof. The trade-offs: not every DO practices OMT, and a careful one will tell you when it isn’t the right tool. Choose the physician who fits your needs, not the letters.
Is it better to go to a chiropractor or an osteopath?
They do different jobs. In Missouri, chiropractic by law does not include surgery, osteopathy or prescribing drugs, while a DO is a fully licensed physician who can do all three and also offer manual treatment. For a full medical workup, start with a DO. For spinal adjustment alone, a chiropractor may fit.
What can an MD do that a DO cannot?
Nothing that matters to you as a patient. Both are licensed physicians who can prescribe, order tests, operate and specialize, and both now train in residencies accredited by the same body, the ACGME. A DO can be your surgeon, cardiologist or psychiatrist.
Why would you get a DO instead of a MD?
Some patients want the osteopathic focus on prevention and the whole person, or hands-on OMT. Others simply find a DO who’s in network, nearby and available. Either way, the honest answer is fit: pick the physician, not the credential.
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.