I want to do for the US what I did for Canada.
Back in 2010, hardly anyone knew about manual osteopathy here — now, thanks to National Academy of Osteopathy, thousands of manual osteopaths serve communities across Canada. My mission has always been simple: make sure every city of 100,000 people has access to chronic pain care from NAO & NUMSS graduates.
After achieving this in Canada, I turned my focus to the US. I founded the National University of Medical Sciences (USA) in 2016 — then the only manual osteopathy school in America. Since then, the number of manual osteopaths has grown from almost none to over 2,000, mostly my students. To keep expanding, I opened a Florida campus for the National Academy of Osteopathy this year.
Education is key, but so are clinics. The more clinics offer manual osteopathy, the more people learn about it. That’s why I accepted to became an equal partner in America’s first manual osteopathy franchise. The first clinic will open late this year in Tampa Bay (Florida). The company behind it already runs successful osteopathy franchises and now brings that model to the US, with my help to train all their practitioners in chronic pain care at NAO.
My goal is for people to immediately link manual osteopathy with chronic pain relief. Staying focused helps the profession grow — just as chiropractic did when it narrowed its scope. A clear, specialized message builds trust, attracts patients, and helps our graduates thrive financially — which is exactly what will make manual osteopathy flourish across the US.
Dr. Shawn Pourgol, MBA, DC, DO, DN, PhD
Osteopath, Naprapath, Chiropractor & Founder of:
National Academy of Osteopathy (Canada, USA)
National University of Medical Sciences (USA, Spain, Panama)
Osteopathy Chronic Pain Clinics of Canada (380 clinics in 34 countries)
World Osteopathy Day