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In the [[United States]] osteopathic medicine has been criticized for including therapies such as [[craniosacral therapy|cranial and cranio-sacral manipulation]], and for having a greater tolerance for [[Alternative medicine|alternative medical practices]]. Because the field of osteopathic medicine encompasses all conventional medical practices, it has been subject to the same [[Medicine#Criticism|criticisms]]. And, in other countries where osteopathy does not encompass conventional medical practices, it is subject to the same criticisms leveled at many [[alternative medicine]] modalities.
Osteopathic medicine’s negotiation of its professional [[identity (social science)|identity]] and [[social status]] provides an interesting example of the professional integration of [[alternative medicine]] theories and practices into the conventional delivery of medical care and health services. Over 120 years after its founding, the field continues to struggle with core [[identity (social science)]] issues. While it interfaces, cooperates, and allies itself with the standard biomedical enterprise and [[industries]], it simultaneously retains and defends its own distinct professional identity if for no other reasons than historical or sentimental ones.
Recently the movement, including its [[professional organization]]s, [[colleges]], and specialty societies, has gone to great lengths to define itself in terms of its [[holistic]] system of [[diagnosis]] and treatment. Critics point out that such a definition implies that the field is somehow separate from mainstream medicine and question if this definition is in reality a false distinction. Others prefer to view the field as being complementary to mainstream medicine by offering a form of patient care and health services that encompasses and extends usual medical practice. This duality does not invalidate it as a medical philosophy, but it makes it difficult for researchers and policy makers to measure its overall contribution to the [[health care system]].
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