how much harder does OMM make your life?

[Justify2018]

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I’m starting second year and I will say that I like OMM. Yes it is a time sink that MD schools don’t have but it is minimal and I think I am getting a real benefit from it.

I came into med school with lots of reoccurring headaches and I took NSAIDS like candy. Now I know more about ergonomics and how to address my tension with ME or counterstrain and my headaches are significantly improved. Over the summer break I used counterstrain and ME on my parents and significantly helped their complaints.

I recently shadowed an MD who had a patient with a headache complaint they felt was MSK related and the MD referred the patient to one of their DO colleagues for OMM.

I feel like OMM is a valuable skill set and some of the techniques are helpful and clinically relevant. Is the scope of OMM specific and narrow? Yes. Is it bloated with a history of irrelevant material? Also yes, but so is medicine more broadly. Is it a valuable skill for me to have? Absolutely. I feel like my palpation skills and comfort with clinically relevant anatomy, and examining a patient is really strong after just one year of OMM lab.

If you look for the clinically relevant parts of it and give it some attention, it will be a benefit to your training. Or you can view it as a waste of time and you won’t get anything out of it.

 

[chattechatte]

I’m starting second year and I will say that I like OMM. Yes it is a time sink that MD schools don’t have but it is minimal and I think I am getting a real benefit from it.

I came into med school with lots of reoccurring headaches and I took NSAIDS like candy. Now I know more about ergonomics and how to address my tension with ME or counterstrain and my headaches are significantly improved. Over the summer break I used counterstrain and ME on my parents and significantly helped their complaints.

I recently shadowed an MD who had a patient with a headache complaint they felt was MSK related and the MD referred the patient to one of their DO colleagues for OMM.

I feel like OMM is a valuable skill set and some of the techniques are helpful and clinically relevant. Is the scope of OMM specific and narrow? Yes. Is it bloated with a history of irrelevant material? Also yes, but so is medicine more broadly. Is it a valuable skill for me to have? Absolutely. I feel like my palpation skills and comfort with clinically relevant anatomy, and examining a patient is really strong after just one year of OMM lab.

If you look for the clinically relevant parts of it and give it some attention, it will be a benefit to your training. Or you can view it as a waste of time and you won’t get anything out of it.

That last sentence is what I was getting at. I think there are lessons you can take from anything you learn. A youth I worked with taught me to crochet. Not technically clinically relevant but it helps develop fine motor skills which will make suturing easier. I worked in vet med for many years, different species so a lot of the medicine isn't applicable, but I learned how to get a proper history when the patient themselves can't tell us what is wrong. This will be helpful when I start working with peds. I think it is up to the individual how they process and apply knowledge. I have to do it anyway, maybe I'm too optimistic/naive as a first year but I'd rather see the benefit than just brush it off as a waste of time.

 

[LSTR]

Honestly I'm glad OMM has given me opportunities to hone my palpation skills, above everything else that goes with it really. There are parts of it that I really don't put stock in (I just "play along" with cranial stuff because I know it's tested on COMLEX), but I do tend to use muscle energy on friends and family now and then. If anything, it can be an asset to bedside manner--Patients feel that you're taking time with them to examine what's giving them discomfort.

 

[Goro]

That last sentence is what I was getting at. I think there are lessons you can take from anything you learn. A youth I worked with taught me to crochet. Not technically clinically relevant but it helps develop fine motor skills which will make suturing easier. I worked in vet med for many years, different species so a lot of the medicine isn't applicable, but I learned how to get a proper history when the patient themselves can't tell us what is wrong. This will be helpful when I start working with peds. I think it is up to the individual how they process and apply knowledge. I have to do it anyway, maybe I'm too optimistic/naive as a first year but I'd rather see the benefit than just brush it off as a waste of time.

Indeed. Far better to light a candle than curse the darkness.