Osteopaths are trained to recognize and treat many causes of pain. Osteopathy is an established system of diagnosis and manual treatment which is recognised by the ministry of health as a discrete clinical discipline. For the last 60 years, osteopaths have worked within a system of voluntary regulation which sets standards of training and practice.
In 2003 the Health Practitioners Act was passed into law, Osteopathy being one of the original health professions included under this Act. This means that the New Zealand Osteopathic Council was set up and only those practitioners able to satisfy its educational and ethical standards able to join its register and call themselves and osteopath. Patients have the documented safeguards and rights as decreed by the Health Practitioners Commissioner.
Osteopathy training is demanding and lengthy. Osteopaths study anatomy, physiology, pathological processes biomechanics and clinical methods. They learn about the interpretation of clinical tests and imaging and also study relevant areas of psychology and sociology. Osteopathic education is founded on a solid base of instruction in medical and clinical sciences. There is a substantialclinical training component with a final test of competence.
Depending on the year of graduation the qualification is indicated by DO (Diploma of Ostepathy), BSc (Ost), Bsc ( Hons) Ost or Msc (Ost).