Dr. Javier Gonzalez is often asked the question: “Why should I choose a DO instead of an MD?” Well the final choice is up to you, but here we want to break down some of the benefits that patients receive by choosing to improve their health and wellness with a DO. 

Here are some of the facts:  DOs and MDs spend the same time studying and honing their skills in medical school and residency programs. You can learn a bit about Dr. Gonzalez’s educational background on VitaDox. Every DO spends four years in medical school, which is usually followed by an internship in one or more osteopathic hospitals. Residency programs are available in the full range of specialties for DOs. While Dr. Gonzalez was in residency, he took a humanitarian mission trip to Guatemala to help underserved communities. Both DOs and MDs must take licensing exams in order to practice medicine. In some states these exams are the same for both DOs and MDs.

Where DOs diverge from the rigid thinking of MDs is the focus during their medical training. A DO is, of course, a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. Osteopathic medical education places more emphasis on the entire body, and focuses on preventive medicine, maintaining body posture, osteopathic treatment, and more. DOs also tend to focus more on family medicine, since their skills can be applied so widely and treatment is gentle and non-invasive. The approach is all about letting the body heal itself. Fun fact- over 75% of the DOs in the United States are in family medical practice! And Dr. Javier Gonzalez is one of them!

A DO like Dr. Javier Gonzalez is going to take into account the whole person, not just the illness or condition that the person is suffering from. Dr. Gonzalez takes into account physical symptoms, lifestyle, environment, and emotional well-being of his patients. His fantastic ratings on WebMD reflect his unique and effective approach. This approach dates all the way back to Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine. He believed in focusing on the patient, not on the disease. Dr. Gonzalez is continuing the tradition of focusing on the patient and taking into account all the factors that can give rise to an illness or adverse health condition. 

This means that Dr. Gonzalez is not going to jump straight to the use of drugs or surgery when he encounters an illness. Instead, Dr. Javier Gonzalez knows how to promote the body’s self-healing and self-regulating ability to help the body heal on its own. This means treatment is safe, non-intrusive, and has as few side effects as possible. 

Osteopathic Manual Medicine is also used by Dr. Javier Gonzalez in Tampa, FL. He uses gentle touch and manipulation (not cracking your neck like some crazy chiropractor!) to help align the body’s muscles and skeletal structure. Osteopathic manual treatment has been proven to work for many disorders, and it’s a natural alternative to drugs that just mask the symptoms and don’t treat the cause of health issues.

Proper bodily posture and alignment are key in health! There’s a relationship between the body’s structure and how well the body functions. Dr. Javier Gonzalez is trained and has over two decades of experience in using that critical relationship between body structure and body function. He’s trained to recognize how a disturbance in one system can impact the other system. And he can solve the problems by getting at the root of these problems!

So if you are interested in treating your health issues by getting to the root of the problem and not simply addressing symptoms, a DO like Dr. Javier Gonzalez is for you. Dr. Gonzalez takes his decades of experience and a holistic approach to help you get healthy.