British Columbia in 2009 changed its legislation to formally allow only medical doctors to use the titles "osteopath" and "osteopathic physician". Section 2 of the B.C. Medical Practitioners Regulation sets out this restriction, and section 12.1(1) of the Health Professions Act prohibits other use of these regulated titles.

Members of the Society for the Promotion of Manual Practice Osteopathy (SPMPO) met with representatives from BC's Ministry of Health in 2007, at which time they were given to understand that the title "osteopathic practitioner" would present no problems for our members to use under the new legislation - given that members in our professional society meet high standards for osteopathic training.

Manual osteopathic practice is jointly recognized, with physician-based osteopathy, by the Osteopathic International Alliance, which has as its vision global osteopathic unity and high quality osteopathic healthcare, from both streams of practice. In fact, the SPMPO is now a member organisation of the The Osteopathic International Alliance. Non-physician or manual osteopathic practitioners (under the simple term "osteopaths") are recognized in Britain and Germany, and practitioners from both streams of osteopathy advertise alongside each other in the Yellow Pages in those progressive countries.

Last Revised: 19 December 2017