Osteopathic medical schools are still seen as less prestigious than allopathic ones, and many students apply to D.O. schools only when it’s clear they won’t be getting into an allopathic one. But today, many D.O. practices look no different from those of M.D.s, and the two often work side by side. Data are difficult to come by, but in a 2003 survey,75 percent of D.O.s said they never or rarely used their osteopathic techniques. Some likely never intended to practice manipulative medicine, while others simply stopped training—and trusting in—their hands after graduation. But osteopathic techniques have filtered into other practices, and osteopathic doctors have assimilated into mainstream medicine—so fully that this year, D.O. and M.D. programs combined their residency programs for the first time.