Do you believe in OMM?

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xnfs93hy

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I've done a little bit of research on the topic, and according to the American Osteopathic Association, these are the four major principles of osteopathic medicine. I pulled this from Wikipedia:

1: The body is an integrated unit of mind, body, and spirit.

2: The body possesses self-regulatory mechanisms, having the inherent capacity to defend, repair, and remodel itself.

3: Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.

4: Rational therapy is based on consideration of the first three principles.


Personally, I believe in the philosophy of OMM and its efficacy in treatment of ailments. I've just read a book published by a now deceased M.D. who also believed in the philosophy. He took a somewhat holitistic approach to medicine. He also believed in the use of electricity in the treatment of bone healing, for example. He told of success in patient outcomes and how traditional medicine failed them.

So, what's your take on OMM? Do you believe in it? Do you practice it? Have you seen success when using it? If you said yes to any of the aforementioned questions, could you, please, elaborate? I'm curious to hear what the D.O. community has to say on the matter.

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Nope, not even a little.
 
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I think it works for musculoskeletal complaints, but it's probably no better than what a chiropractor or even a good masseuse would do.

I've only used OMM a few times; mostly to help relieve constipation, hah. It seemed to help.

I've seen it used to treat emphysema. It seemed to decrease the patient's work of breathing, at least according to the patient, but who knows if it actually did anything.

I've seen it used to treat cardiac arrhythmias in the ED. It seemed to work for SVT. Sticking your finger in someone's anus also works for SVTs, so...
 
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Not in the same way that I believe in God
 
May I ask why not?


Im just a pre-med and we usually don't have adequate background information on anything, but I feel like its only taught out of historical value obligation
 
I've heard arguments both ways. For myself, OMM is one of the things drawing me to osteopathic medicine , for various reasons. I'm interested in learning more about it.
 
I think it works for musculoskeletal complaints, but it's probably no better than what a chiropractor or even a good masseuse would do.

I've only used OMM a few times; mostly to help relieve constipation, hah. It seemed to help.

I've seen it used to treat emphysema. It seemed to decrease the patient's work of breathing, at least according to the patient, but who knows if it actually did anything.

I've seen it used to treat cardiac arrhythmias in the ED. It seemed to work for SVT. Sticking your finger in someone's anus also works for SVTs, so...
So does having him or her bear down or blow into an empty syringe. Personally, I'll save a finger in the bum for later.
 
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Im just a pre-med and we usually don't have adequate background information on anything, but I feel like its only taught out of historical value obligation

Yea idk about that. I guess it really depends on the background of your school and professor. The head of our OMM class was a pain specialist and used OMM on a daily basis. He taught it to us in a rational sense, as in don't rely solely on it but if you have a quick second just try it out.

Do I believe it works? To a certain degree on certain things. If you ask me about Chapman's points I might say its BS but some FPR/MFR/HVLA stuff is great. When I go home some of my friends ask me to take a look at something and i'll see what I can do. It's surprising how much relief it can bring some people.

I had a friend who had neck pains so I took a quick look. Did some counterstrain and FPR, he felt so much better afterwards. If it brings the patient some relief (and is not illegal), then why not use it? Again, if a patient comes in with a heart attack i'm not going to be searching for his myocardium chapman's but if it's a neck/back pain and I already did an x-ray/CT with no results, yea I would probably throw in some counterstrain or something. I think it's all about balance, some DOs say "OMG OMM CAN SOLVE ANYTHING!!!" while some say "OMM SUCKS!". I like to think our school is right in the middle.
 
I mean... What is setting a broken bone? What is slamming someone's head against a table to try and re-normalize the structure of semicircular canals? What is reconstructive surgery? They're all physical manipulations. They're all difficult to test double-blindly. What makes the label "OMM" inherently questionable?

We're STILL learning about many of the effects of the most common drugs prescribed, even though they've undergone what are supposedly golden experiments... hormone therapy for women, calcium for osteoporosis, even the restrictions of table salt for hypertension. And yet, no one seems to question mainstream medicine.
 
Thanks for the responses. It sounds like OMM isn't widely used in practice these days.
 
I think some of the techniques have merit, how effective they are is up for debate. Other portions of OMM (cough chapmans) give me a quack attack.
 
I believe in it, because someone has personally used it on me. I get constant bad headaches and a friend in DO school will sometimes adjust my neck which helps with the headaches. Maybe no better than a chiropractor/masseuse, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work. I also talked to a physician who is a resident in the ED today who said she uses it all the time (when her supervising physicians allow her to). She said she used it the other day on a patient with back pain who wasn't getting any relief from his medications and that it worked. I was surprised to hear that people actually use it in the ER, but they do get a varied patient population so I guess it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.
 
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I believe in it, because someone has personally used it on me. I get constant bad headaches and a friend in DO school will sometimes adjust my neck which helps with the headaches. Maybe no better than a chiropractor/masseuse, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work. I also talked to a physician who is a resident in the ED today who said she uses it all the time (when her supervising physicians allow her to). She said she used it the other day on a patient with back pain who wasn't getting any relief from his medications and that it worked. I was surprised to hear that people actually use it in the ER, but they do get a varied patient population so I guess it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.

I guess that it must depend on the D.O. resident/physician, then. Sounds like some use it more than others and others don't use it at all. It's great that your friend in D.O. school can help you with your headaches! Kudos!
 
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I guess that it must depend on the D.O. resident/physician, then. Sounds like some use it more than others and others don't use it at all. It's great that your friend in D.O. school can help you with your headaches! Kudos!

Oh, definitely. I've shadowed a few, and there were two that didn't seem to do anything with it. The doctor I talked to today said she only applied to one school and wanted to be a DO and not an MD for the philosophy it teaches. She even said she prescribes less medication than MDs do, even in the ER. was a sports med/internal medicine doctor and he practiced it fairly often and actually had a room designated to OMM. There was even one patient who would come in solely for him to adjust her. She was a young athlete and his techniques worked wonders on her. And I agree! It's really simple what he does, too, and probably much better for me than constantly taking NSAIDs. I could see how OMM could really help for specialties like ortho, sports med, etc.
 
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... Maybe no better than a chiropractor/masseuse, ...

"Later I took Osteopathy [which] gave me such a measure of confidence as to almost feel it unnecessary to seek other sciences for the mastery of curable disease." -DD Palmer (founder of chiropractic)

Leach, Robert (2004). The Chiropractic Theories: A Textbook of Scientific Research. Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. p. 15
 
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"Later I took Osteopathy [which] gave me such a measure of confidence as to almost feel it unnecessary to seek other sciences for the mastery of curable disease." -DD Palmer (founder of chiropractic)

Leach, Robert (2004). The Chiropractic Theories: A Textbook of Scientific Research. Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. p. 15

I was referring to someone's earlier post, but that's a solid quote!
 
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It depends...

Do I think there are some techniques that work? Yes, stuff like MET does in certain circumstances, but then again others such as physical therapists use it as well. But most of the science/rational they use to explain why it works can seem like pure quackery.

I'm not a huge fan of how OMM is taught, at least at my school (too regimented and tries too hard to be scientific), and it's a completely different experience when you shadow a competent practitioner. I was mildly excited when I started school, became hugely skeptical and negative due to some of the things we were taught during the first semester, then I had a chance (aka was forced to as a part of our clinical experiences) to shadow a DO that only practices OMM and have started to come back around.
 
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After 1 year competed, yes I love OMM and it's been of great benefit to me, my friends, and my family in fixing minor, pain inducing MSK issues. Cranial is a load of crap.
 
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It's not a question of whether one believes in it...this is not an article of faith we're talking about.

Rather, you should ask, is there data to support its claims?

For musculoskeletal issues, there's a good body of data. For others, there's a good number of unproven claims.

For the most controversial, craniosacral manipulation, my notion is that my DO colleagues are the victims of a tactile delusion and observer bias because there's no way in hell those bones move. But the modality itself might be efficacious, for say, sinus or headache issues, from an as yet unexplained mechanism.

I've done a little bit of research on the topic, and according to the American Osteopathic Association, these are the four major principles of osteopathic medicine. I pulled this from Wikipedia:

1: The body is an integrated unit of mind, body, and spirit.

2: The body possesses self-regulatory mechanisms, having the inherent capacity to defend, repair, and remodel itself.

3: Structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.

4: Rational therapy is based on consideration of the first three principles.


Personally, I believe in the philosophy of OMM and its efficacy in treatment of ailments. I've just read a book published by a now deceased M.D. who also believed in the philosophy. He took a somewhat holitistic approach to medicine. He also believed in the use of electricity in the treatment of bone healing, for example. He told of success in patient outcomes and how traditional medicine failed them.

So, what's your take on OMM? Do you believe in it? Do you practice it? Have you seen success when using it? If you said yes to any of the aforementioned questions, could you, please, elaborate? I'm curious to hear what the D.O. community has to say on the matter.
 
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For the most controversial, craniosacral manipulation, my notion is that my DO colleagues are the victims of a tactile delusion and observer bias because there's no way in hell those bones move.
Some arguments I've heard by defendants are that (1) the bones only need to move a few millimeters for relief and (2) it works better in very young children whose sutures are relatively new. But...yeah... I am not of those opinions.
 
I have a very positive opinion of OMM. It personally helped me a great deal after some unfortunate trauma, and I have continually seen cases of it promoting a dramatic improvement in patients who had limited success with other interventions. Additionally, the theory and its application just make a lot of sense to me.

As such I decided to only apply to DO schools (although I had MD #s), and then to the DO schools which I felt had the best OMM programs.

As far as I can tell (I have spent a lot of time with DOs and DO students, but still have a few months before matriculation), a minority of Osteopathic Students have an affinity for OMM and follow through with it, a larger section thinks it has merit but does a minimal amount with OMM, and another significant section outright rejects the practice.

By my understanding, the quality of OMM is enormously dependent on the skill level of the practitioner. To some extent this can be trained (thus why schools with better OMM programs show this in their graduates), but it is also largely innate. As such the people who are just born with the skill set for it will typically like OMM more (thus being in that minority) and be able to do much more with it. Equally, for people who do not have that skillset, the practice of OMM will seem like garbage, and it will be much more reasonable for them to reject it as a hogwash since they can't do any of it.

I also believe Osteopathic Manipulation is the best form of physical therapy available, and such will often have a high demand due to it being recognized as such by patients. I have met multiple DOs with OMM only practices and very satisfied patients who can charge 200-500 an hour (with essentially no overhead), and be booked solid at least a month ahead. This is partly due to the quality of their work, and the rarity of skilled fully OMM practicioners.

Beyond that, the DOs who do OMM seem to have the highest life satisfaction of any medical speciality I've come across. It's very interesting work, you get to directly see tangible differences be made for patients, and the life style is much less stressful/demanding.

My own hope is to do family medicine and OMM as part of my patient visits until I feel satisfied with my capacity to treat only with OMM, at which point I'd become a full time OMM doc.

However, these are all opinions from someone who has on one hand done a lot of investigating, but has not yet gone through the medical process and thus may have his opinions change.
 
I was able to watch an "old school" practitioner of OMM in action and it was very interesting. His patients seemed to appreciate what he did and they seemed relieved when they left the office. It was fascinating to watch. I don't know how it worked and I'd love to see it done on an MRI table so we could see before and after.
 
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