Who We Are
Thank you for your interest in the National Academy of Osteopathy (NAO), the largest manual osteopathic college in the world (teaching manual osteopathy in 45 countries countries). We are the first & only osteopathic college in Canada that has been accepted as an affiliate member of the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA). NAO is an educational institution (founded in Canada by manual osteopath, Dr Shawn Pourgol, MBA, DC, DOMP, DO ) offering a World Health Organization (WHO) compliant program leading to a Diploma in Osteopathic Manual Practice (DOMP). NAO is a fully accredited, professional educational institution with professional faculty and staff who are experts in their fields. NAO offers full time as well as part time European style manual osteopathy professional programs leading to a Diploma in Osteopathic Manual Practice – DOMP.
The title DOMP is a Canadian title accepted by most Canadian extended health insurers. NAO is the copyright holder of this title since October 09, 2013 (copyright # 1108241, with Canadian Intellectual Property Office of Industry Canada). If you have graduated from High School, you will qualify for the regular program or the program for those that do not have a health background. You can take the program for 12-months full time or 24-months part-time. The program format is either: online or in-campus. The campus-based format offers extensive supervised technique training and practice plus 4-months clinical internship. On the other hand, the online format offers the convenience of studying the lectures and practicing the techniques at your own pace and time at the comfort of your home. Full time students are recommended to dedicate at least 25-30 hours per week for study, while part-time students are recommended to dedicate 10-15 hours per week for study.
For those that have a health background, you will qualify for the accelerated program. You may be exempted from several courses that allows you to take the program for 6-months full time or 12-months part-time. The program format is either: online or in-campus. The campus-based format offers extensive supervised techniques training and practice plus 2-months clinical internship. The online format also offers the convenience of studying the lectures and practicing the techniques at your own pace and time at the comfort of your home. Full-time students are recommended to dedicate at least 25-30 hours per week for study, while part-time students are recommended to dedicate 10-15 hours per week for study.
The online program has a 2-week mandatory training for the core osteopathy techniques that will be taught and supervised hands on by the professor. This is mandatory for those that are residents of Canada and are planning to work in Canada. This training is for an extra fee (for each week). This is conducted in either Toronto, or Spain.
Our program includes many courses such as soft tissue therapy, osteo-articular mobilization, muscle energy techniques, cranial osteopathy, visceral manipulation, strain/counterstrain, oscillatory, myofascial release techniques, human anatomy & physiology, neurology, therapeutic joint specific exercises, sports nutrition and many more.
Classes begin every first week of September and March.
NAO is licensed by the province of Ontario (license # 200607893) and the Canadian government (license # 757053-8). NAO graduates in Canada receive up to $5000 in tuition & textbook tax credits from the Canadian Revenue Agency. They are also eligible to apply for $60,000 in non-payable grant money under the Start Smart Seed Fund of the Ontario government.
NAO graduates are eligible to join most osteopathic organizations which allow them to purchase malpractice insurance as well as to bill 99% of private health insurers (for workers & employees) & auto insurers (for car accident patients) in Canada. NAO graduates are permitted to work in all countries. In most countries they work as osteopaths. However, in a few countries such as Canada & USA the term “osteopath” is reserved for medical doctors who perform surgery & prescribe medications. In Canada & USA our graduates call themselves manual osteopaths or osteopathic manual practitioners.
Manual osteopathy is one of the top 25 occupations in demand in Canada as reported by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). Currently in Ontario 2,500 osteopathic manual practitioners are needed. Many manual osteopaths do not even accept new patients anymore and refer patients to new graduates. In Richmond Hill (Ontario, Canada) there is a waiting list of 1 to 2 months to see a manual osteopath. In London, Ontario the waiting list is over a year and in Halifax, Nova Scotia it is over six months. In Iran; the waiting list is 6 months for an appointment with a manual osteopath and in Vietnam it is over 2 months.
Manual osteopathy is the fastest growing health profession and NAO graduates are some of the most successful manual osteopaths. The average annual income of established manual osteopaths is approximately $90,000 in Canada, and most other western countries; while hourly hiring salary of new graduates is about $30 per hour (very similar to chiropractors, physiotherapists & massage therapists). Almost all Canadian insurers cover manual osteopathic care provided by NAO graduates who are members of an approved association such as Ontario Osteopathic & Alternative Medical Association, the 2 oldest osteopathy association in Canada that accepts NAO graduates.
We are glad to announce that the title “Osteopathic Manual Practitioner” has now been officially entered into the National Occupational Classification of Canada; under the NOC Code # 3232 (Practitioners of Natural Healing). This is great news for the profession of manual osteopathy as it gives a unique identity to the job title of our graduates, and it is a great step towards regulating the profession of manual osteopathy in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada. Previously only the titles of “osteopath or Doctor of Osteopathy” were classified in Canada to represent anyone who practices osteopathy. There are officially two distinct forms of osteopathy in Canada. First, the osteopathic medicine, which its practitioners call themselves osteopaths in Canada and the second, European style manual osteopathy which its practitioners are called manual osteopaths or osteopathic manual practitioners.
We do hope you choose NAO for your osteopathic education. We love osteopathy, and we are passionate about it. Our goal is to make sure patients in every corner of the world have access to this wonderful health profession. We encourage you to study osteopathy. You would love every minute of it.
To read the guide on “How to Choose the Right Osteopathy School in Canada“, please click on the link below: http://nationalacademyofosteopathy.blogspot.com/2018/04/how-to-choose-right-osteopathy-school.html.