Daniel Allen

Dr. Allen has been involved in the clinical practice of Osteopathic Medicine for over 30 years. Born in a rural family in western New York State, his early years were a mixture of basic skills from bailing hay and tractor driving to playing the piano and community theater performance. His college experience included a BS degree in Biology, with clearly a minor in music and theater.

Finding his way to Osteopathic medical school in Kansas City, He expected to become a general country physician. He focused his interest on the traditional osteopathic philosophies of "knowing the patient down to the bone" with developing his hands on skills. In the summer of 1987, Dr. Allen took his first week long Cranial Osteopathy Course and experienced the inherent fluid

breathing life mechanism for the first time. From that point on his life was altered. He knew he could not go back to just following the hard science model that human life was simply a complex system of chemical reactions. Osteopathic manual medicine carried him into his speciality residency training, where he also developed his interest in obstetrics. The portals of Life, both birth and death became fascinating. During and after his residency, Dr. Allen worked as an emergency room physician where he was able to combine his technical medical skills with his budding manual skills. One example was helping a chest pain patient discover that his pain was coming from his ribs and chest muscles and not his heart. This patient was very relieved to not have to go through the full hospital work up for a heart attack.

One of the teaching philosophies of Osteopathic Medicine is that the DO degree should remind the physician to "Dig On" and continue to explore, question, and stay curious about the mysteries of Life. The job of the Osteopathic Physician is to find health and to help bring its potencies forward in their patient's life. The mass frenzy to identify disease as a foreign  entity  that descends on people from the tree tops, and must be fought with and destroyed with the right pill, really has no place in the osteopathic approach to health care.

As Dr. Allen made his way through the maze of professional training, which included several dozen extra curricular and professional workshops, he landed in Santa Rosa, California to hang out his shingle and begin his practice. He was mentored through that period of his career by a group of older osteopaths who provided welcome trust and guidance. As a bright and good willing physician, Dr. Allen worked to try to meet the needs of patients, the insurance companies, the state board, and his Osteopathic training. In the 1990s, in California, the HMO insurance companies came to power. This change along with others, was a part of the shift of health care power from the physicians to the insurance companies. Dr. Allen realized that he could not continue to compromise the care of his patients to try to meet the regulatory needs of their insurance companies. He decided to return to his roots in medicine and put all of his focus on the care of human beings. As one of his teachers, Dr. Robert Fulford, would say,"I would rather spend my time treating patients, than filling out insurance forms." With this change a new pathway was born.

Dr. Allen, moved his family to Nevada City in the Spring of 2001. For the last twenty years, he has been offering a fully human based approach to the practice of medicine. Personalized health care is unfortunately uncommon in today's modern world of standardized protocols. Dr. Allen enjoys his personal experience with his patients and works to discover their unique qualities and pathways to their own health. Many office visits are at least 60 minutes, and personal growth is always a part of the  process of doctoring for human beings.