I am probably not the best person to answer your question, but as a pre-med student, I might as well.
Osteopathic medicine is currently practiced all over the United States. Many of the physicians that work in hospitals are D.O.'s, although you may not know it. They are in essence, the equivalent of an M.D. by legal concern. However, there is much prejudice against them in the medical community, due to the fact that it uses a different approach, and that many have a better chance of being accepted to an osteopathic school rather than an allopathic one.
Doctors of Osteopathy focus on a more holistic approach to healing patients. Rather than trying to fix one sole aspect of the physical problem, they concentrate on the person overall to manipulate and promote the body's innate ability of recovery and protection. They focus on the body's structure, and how that essentially relates to the patient's function.
"Many of osteopathic medicine’s manipulative techniques are aimed at reducing or eliminating the impediments to proper structure and function so the self-healing mechanism can assume its role in restoring the person to health." (AACOM)
