OMM Waver?

[anondo2016]

Hi All, I wanted to ask a question about OMM training. I will be entering a DO program this August and am terrified of the OMM component of the training. While I view OMM as a useful modality and am personally excited to learn OMM techniques, the thought of having somebody else train and "learn" on me is absolutely terrifying. I have suffered from significant musculoskeletal issues for years and live with chronic pain in my back and neck. I don't take medication for it, I just deal with it, but it's always there and it's always sensitive. It is easily aggravated and my ultimate worry is that a training peer will injure me significantly enough that I won't be able to focus on my own studies. Is there anything that I can do to prevent another student practicing on me? (to current medical school students) Would this be resented by my fellow classmates?

I'm not quite sure what to do, but I am considerably anxious about this issue. Please help

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[donkeykong1]

speak to your student services dept. it sounds like a legit excuse.

 

[CopToEM]

1) We have no idea what school you're going to.
2) We have no idea what the mysterious school's student policies are.
3) Regardless, SDN is not a place for school policy questions. Call the school.

 

[Kevin Baker]

Email the school. We have some people that get out of being student dummies on practicals, for medical reasons, and they have to find a surrogate. I'm not sure about their situation during class but your school would know more.

 

[WDeagle]

More importantly is how your chronic pain is going to effect you during rotations/residency/being an attending. There are days when I don't sit for 12 hours.

 

[p1acebo]

More importantly is how your chronic pain is going to effect you during rotations/residency/being an attending. There are days when I don't sit for 12 hours.

This.

Not to mention at my school we practiced on multiple people. It was pretty lax in the sense of switching partners... I wouldn't think it would be an issue if you just even spoke with the instructors directly when you start.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

but if you aren't taking medication is it documented? if not, how is a school going to know you just don't want to do OMM. You are going to have to physically do it, but it might not be an issue to not be the patient.

 

[cabinbuilder]

Hi All, I wanted to ask a question about OMM training. I will be entering a DO program this August and am terrified of the OMM component of the training. While I view OMM as a useful modality and am personally excited to learn OMM techniques, the thought of having somebody else train and "learn" on me is absolutely terrifying. I have suffered from significant musculoskeletal issues for years and live with chronic pain in my back and neck. I don't take medication for it, I just deal with it, but it's always there and it's always sensitive. It is easily aggravated and my ultimate worry is that a training peer will injure me significantly enough that I won't be able to focus on my own studies. Is there anything that I can do to prevent another student practicing on me? (to current medical school students) Would this be resented by my fellow classmates?

I'm not quite sure what to do, but I am considerably anxious about this issue. Please help

I wouldn't worry too much about it. There is more to OMM than "cracking your back", a lot of it is palpations skills and learning the muscle groups and anatomy. Much of the class is watching the techniques and practicing them. If there is a technique that you don't want done on you, just let your partner know and they can practice on someone else. There should be professor proctors for your group who can assist with you apprehension and maybe even help alleviate some of your pain issues. I have pain issues every day and have for a long time. I knew what I couldn't tolerate having done on me so my partner switched out and practiced with the next table. You should not lose any sleep over it, really. You may want to have the head of OMM lab examine you and see if they can help you out physically. There should not be any resentment as everyone has issues somewhere on their body. If my partner wasn't sure we had the proctor there to make sure the hand position was correct before they worked on me.

 

[SLC]

Who knows, maybe one of your fellow classmates will actually help your musculoskeletal issues? Isn't that what OMM is all about?

90% of what we learned 1st year is pretty low impact. You don't know the terms now, but indirect treatments are practically zero impact to begin with.

I'm willing to bet that within a few months, you'll be looking forward to OMM lab so you can get some relief. Just because it's a student, doesn't mean that he/she can't be good at a particular technique or techniques.

I say see how it goes.

 

[Deceptacon]

Who knows, maybe one of your fellow classmates will actually help your musculoskeletal issues? Isn't that what OMM is all about?

90% of what we learned 1st year is pretty low impact. You don't know the terms now, but indirect treatments are practically zero impact to begin with.

I'm willing to bet that within a few months, you'll be looking forward to OMM lab so you can get some relief. Just because it's a student, doesn't mean that he/she can't be good at a particular technique or techniques.

I say see how it goes.

i don't know man, i felt like crap 90 percent of the time and that's without any msk issues.

 

[WDeagle]

i don't know man, i felt like crap 90 percent of the time and that's without any msk issues.

I was just bored 99% of the time.

 

[valkener]

Don't let anyone hold you back students have overcome far more obstacles. You should be able to get out of being a dummy. I don't think you will get a waver though, OMM is a critical part of the curriculum unfortunately.

 

[WDeagle]

Don't let anyone hold you back students have overcome far more obstacles. You should be able to get out of being a dummy. I don't think you will get a waver though, OMM is a critical part of the curriculum unfortunately.

I would say OMM is actually the exact opposite of critical.

 

[SLC]

i don't know man, i felt like crap 90 percent of the time and that's without any msk issues.

Oh I know, it happens to me too, depending on how seriously people take it. There are also those folks who obviously don't care for OMM, but are still pretty good at it.

I hate OMM worse than most, believe me. But I can't see MSK complaints (outside the absolute or relative contraindications for each technique) being accepted as reasoning to not accept OMM in the lab. If anything, I imagine them telling OP that he/she will get to experience things better than others.

I was just bored 99% of the time.

Truth!

 

[Siggy]

It depends on the school. At my school during orientation week everyone had a structural exam (physical exam) done by the OMM fellows and faculty. If any issues you'll just be told which ones not to have done on you. Similarly for the practical exams everyone is paired up with someone else (we learn our group/time about 1-2 weeks before the practical and our partner out of the group of 14 or so about 5 minutes before the practical), but people who can't have all of the techniques done on them work with the OMM department to have a surrogate stand in for them when they're the "patient."

 

[valkener]

I would say OMM is actually the exact opposite of critical.

How are 500 hours of OMM training not a critical part of the curriculum of a DO school?

 

[Makati2008]

Hi All, I wanted to ask a question about OMM training. I will be entering a DO program this August and am terrified of the OMM component of the training. While I view OMM as a useful modality and am personally excited to learn OMM techniques, the thought of having somebody else train and "learn" on me is absolutely terrifying. I have suffered from significant musculoskeletal issues for years and live with chronic pain in my back and neck. I don't take medication for it, I just deal with it, but it's always there and it's always sensitive. It is easily aggravated and my ultimate worry is that a training peer will injure me significantly enough that I won't be able to focus on my own studies. Is there anything that I can do to prevent another student practicing on me? (to current medical school students) Would this be resented by my fellow classmates?

I'm not quite sure what to do, but I am considerably anxious about this issue. Please help

Can I ask why you applied to d.o. Schools when you knew this is part of the training? Unless you have documentation or they find something on structural exam then you should expect to do everything your classmates have to.

I have pretty severe osteoporosis and the only thing they did was ban hvla on me( I found out very literally a week before school started I had it which shocked me.)

 

[Helen Wheels]

At my school, the policy manual states that if you feel you cannot have OMT practiced on you in lab you need to talk to the course director and that person will make a determination about what participation is appropriate. Truthfully, there are few absolute contraindications to OMT. And even if you can't have your back and neck worked on, OMT is done on knees, ankles, elbows, and other locations, too.

I would not worry too much about it. I have chronic pain, also, and was very worried before I started school. I have had some bad experiences with PT and feared the worst from OMT lab. Honestly, it hasn't been a problem. Some of the manipulations even seem helpful. Also, just let your lab partner know you have back and neck problems and ask them to be gentler and use less force. In my experience, no one wants to hurt anyone and students will respect this.

OMT isn't physically too demanding, but you need to be careful to use good technique when you are lifting legs (they can be heavy!) and find ways to minimize leaning over (back strain!) while you are working on people.

 

[TallScrubs]

ankylosing spondylitis or osteoporosis. if not those two, then you are fine

 

[MRSAful Fate]

At WesternU I'm pretty sure you can get a waiver for medical or religious reasons and practice but not be practiced upon. I've also been in lab and had a partner say something like "I've got a bad back, please don't do that technique" and I've been like "no problem, just let me stand here looking like I'm doing something until they let us go". Also, soft tissue and MFR are basically gentle massage techniques. You shouldn't have a problem with those.

Don't stress, you'll either be able to get a waiver or just opt out of techniques you don't feel comfortable with. If you tell your school you have a medical issue then they force you to be HVLA'd and you get hurt you will have every right to kick them square in the nuts, legally speaking.

 

[WDeagle]

How are 500 hours of OMM training not a critical part of the curriculum of a DO school?

500 hours? There is no way I spent anywhere near 500 hours learning OMT during med school. I never used it on an actual patient and never saw a physician use it on a patient during my 3rd and 4th year. Im not trying to bash OMT but it is hardly a critical part of the curriculum.

 

[heroes31]

Just email or call the administration of your school. Finished. End of thread.

 

[seap3]

ankylosing spondylitis or osteoporosis. if not those two, then you are fine

I have ankylosing spondylitis and haven't had any trouble in OMM lab or practicals. It may depend on severity, but I think most schools would be willing to work with you.

The only thing I've opted out of in lab was the spring test. HVLA hasn't caused any problems, but if there were any concerns it wouldn't be a big problem. Most of the techniques are not HVLA and have minimal risk.

 

[Deceptacon]

I have ankylosing spondylitis and haven't had any trouble in OMM lab or practicals. It may depend on severity, but I think most schools would be willing to work with you.

The only thing I've opted out of in lab was the spring test. HVLA hasn't caused any problems, but if there were any concerns it wouldn't be a big problem. Most of the techniques are not HVLA and have minimal risk.

minimal risk, until your vertebral artery is dissected

 

[Bacchus]

I've worked with several people (this is at PCOM) who have had anatomic abnormalities that precluded certain techniques. You just did it on someone else. On the practical it happened as well. HVLA was contraindicated in one of my partners so I did the setup and then using the cushion of the table I demonstrated the proper amount of HVLA by compressing the table padding.

You have what you have. They'll work with you.

 

[seap3]

minimal risk, until your vertebral artery is dissected

I think I know more about my personal medical hx than some random stranger on the internet. Your throw out some blanket statement that anyone with ankylosing spondylitis should not have OMM performed on them by other students and I was showing that it is simply not always true.

I am not an idiot and neither is the OMM dept at my school. My vertebral artery is not going to be dissected. Good way to scare incoming students.

 

[Total180]

I have a stress fracture in my back at L4 and when I didn't feel comfortable having something done on me because of it, it was never an issue. The only real problem I had was during HVLA though. While there is a lot of back and neck stuff taught in the first year (at least for us there was) there was also a lot of extremity techniques taught, and you should have no problem with those. I guess it depends on the school, but at least at DCOM, they will work with you if you have pain.

 

[Makati2008]

I think I know more about my personal medical hx than some random stranger on the internet. Your throw out some blanket statement that anyone with ankylosing spondylitis should not have OMM performed on them by other students and I was showing that it is simply not always true.

I am not an idiot and neither is the OMM dept at my school. My vertebral artery is not going to be dissected. Good way to scare incoming students.

I agreee with you on this one. The other poster is REALLY trying to scare other students. I have seen only 1 ONE case of a vertebral artery dissection as a PA with a decent amount of experience/exposure and it was a Non-DO (it was a Chiro. duh). I am assuming since we as D.O.'s are taught to do HVLA of the C-spine in non-extension positions as well as taking a good H/P would be why I haven't seen this from a D.O.

And I am by far not the warm and fuzzy type about OMM but do believe it has its uses.

 

[TallScrubs]

I think I know more about my personal medical hx than some random stranger on the internet. Your throw out some blanket statement that anyone with ankylosing spondylitis should not have OMM performed on them by other students and I was showing that it is simply not always true.

I am not an idiot and neither is the OMM dept at my school. My vertebral artery is not going to be dissected. Good way to scare incoming students.

Kindly unbunch your panties. It was a joke--in our OMT manual it is listed pretty much under every 'relative' contraindication. Did you see the winky face?