Osteopathic medicine combines the treatment of disease not only with drugs and surgery, but also with procedures in which a physician palpates, by hand, areas of the body that are under tension or are distorted. Osteopathy functions with the belief that body structure and function are interrelated and mutually interdependent and that the body is an integrated whole. Dr. Andrew T. Still founded the first school of osteopathy in 1972 at Kirksville, MO. Today there are 14 such schools in the United States. Training involves four years of study in basic medical sciences and an internship. A Doctor of Osteopathy is qualified to prescribe drugs and to use any of the medical instruments commonly employed by medical doctors.