OMM and osteopathy for dummies

[Megalofyia]

So there are a pile of books sitting in my bookstore that are all rather pricy and I'm trying to decide which books it would be worth buying if any.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what books are absolute must haves in the area of OMM and DO philosophy? Or should I just spend extra time in the library using their copies?

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[DOtobe]

You should definitely have the Savarese "OMT Review" book - it is extremely helpful when it comes to boards studying. I also found the "Osteopathic Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment" to be useful. I bought "Foundations for Osteopathic Medicine," too, which was a dumb mistake on my part. It was over a hundred dollars, and I used it maybe three times. My only consolation is that we have to know Foundations for our state OMT exam, so I'll get some use of it now.

So I say definitely Savarese, and maybe the second book I mentioned (if you even use it at WVSOM - that was our main textbook at LECOM.)

Good luck!

 

[macman]

So there are a pile of books sitting in my bookstore that are all rather pricy and I'm trying to decide which books it would be worth buying if any.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what books are absolute must haves in the area of OMM and DO philosophy? Or should I just spend extra time in the library using their copies?

depends on what school you are at.....email the OMM chair and ask them, better yet ask some second years 😀

 

[jonb12997]

I couldn't have gotten through first year without Jones Strain Counterstrain to memorize all those stupid little points and the treatments... now is it extend and abduct, or extend and adduct? 🙄

 

[Megalofyia]

I couldn't have gotten through first year without Jones Strain Counterstrain to memorize all those stupid little points and the treatments... now is it extend and abduct, or extend and adduct? 🙄

I actually just saw that book in our library today. I was going to check it out when I was told it was a reference book and was not to leave the library.

We have a PBL case where the term "Jones counterstrain" was used so it peaked my interest.

 

[TheFish005]

It really depends on what school you're going to attend. Our OMM department gives us very detailed handouts of everything we need to know in OMM. I don't anyone in my class that bought any books for OMM.

 

[DORoe]

I couldn't have gotten through first year without Jones Strain Counterstrain to memorize all those stupid little points and the treatments... now is it extend and abduct, or extend and adduct? 🙄

This is what kind of angers me about the teaching of counterstrain. It really is just finding a tender point and finding a place where it doesn't hurt anymore. As long as your patient is alive you can ask them if a position makes it worse or better. It seems like a big waste of time to me. This coming from someone that loves to use counterstrain.

Back to the topic at hand though. I really like the Digiovanni (sp?) book as well as the Savaresse book.

 

[raptor5]

You should definitely have the Savarese "OMT Review" book - it is extremely helpful when it comes to boards studying. I also found the "Osteopathic Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment" to be useful. I bought "Foundations for Osteopathic Medicine," too, which was a dumb mistake on my part. It was over a hundred dollars, and I used it maybe three times. My only consolation is that we have to know Foundations for our state OMT exam, so I'll get some use of it now.

So I say definitely Savarese, and maybe the second book I mentioned (if you even use it at WVSOM - that was our main textbook at LECOM.)

Good luck!

I agree with everything DOnow said. I like the second book over Savarese but will probably use Savarese more next year when studying for boards.

 

[macman]

why all the counterstrain bashing? The points are a little tough to remember but if you practice them and use them regularly it makes it a lot easier. FYI: For boards the sacrum and c-spine points are very high yield, I have also noticed a lot of knee TP's as well.

When you emerge from years one and two your pateints will no longer be healthy, flexible medical students. It is much less nerve wracking to do lumbar counterstrain on a 85 yo woman than to try to set her up for hvla/other? The countestrain book I prefer is by Yates, the red and white one. More than that I prefer the handouts from the DMU OMM department, the pictures and text do a great job of showing you what to do.

Lastly, I find it a bit sad to see so mnay DO students bashing OMM on these message boards. OMM is safe and effective and the literature backs that up (cranial is a seperate issue). If you want sources use Pubmed, especially articles by Greenman in JOAO and Nadler in Mayo clinic proced. regarding the existing literature.

What exactly are you going to tell your patients when they notice you are a DO and want to know in what way you are different? If you learn your OMM (which takes a lot of time to master, but only regular practice here and there to be competent) your patients will love you and respect and admire the profession.

 

[jonb12997]

This is what kind of angers me about the teaching of counterstrain. It really is just finding a tender point and finding a place where it doesn't hurt anymore. As long as your patient is alive you can ask them if a position makes it worse or better. It seems like a big waste of time to me. This coming from someone that loves to use counterstrain.

Back to the topic at hand though. I really like the Digiovanni (sp?) book as well as the Savaresse book.

oh I agree completely... I'm sure that's how counterstrain is going to be practiced, in the first year though, we had to memorize the stupid points and their treatment... it was a waste of time, but just another hurdle to jump I guess

 

[Elysium]

I resented all the memorization of the Jones counterstrain TP, especially because we had one practical/written over 128 TP and all of us thought we were going to die. This was in addition to the 9 other exams we had that week, so it was especially painful. I think the Jones stuff is good for some parts of the body, and BS on others. I agree the cervical spine is good for it, as are the hands and feet. On some of the TP, they obviously hurt because you're poking your finger in a nerve! "Is this tender?" (sticking finger about 2cm from a man's testicles - one of the lumbar tenderpoints ) Guy yells in pain. "Well, let's fix that right up!" Give me a break.

Mega, PM me and let's figure out a time to talk. Sorry I keep missing your damned phone calls. I'm still in Portland. Looks like I'm gonna stay...

DON'T BUY FOM (Foundations of Osteopathic Medicine)! The head of our dept edited and wrote some chapters in it (Dr. John Jones) so he was all about it. I never bought the damn thing, thank god. It served as a paperweight for my classmates.

 

[gagolden]

why all the counterstrain bashing? The points are a little tough to remember but if you practice them and use them regularly it makes it a lot easier. FYI: For boards the sacrum and c-spine points are very high yield, I have also noticed a lot of knee TP's as well.

When you emerge from years one and two your pateints will no longer be healthy, flexible medical students. It is much less nerve wracking to do lumbar counterstrain on a 85 yo woman than to try to set her up for hvla/other? The countestrain book I prefer is by Yates, the red and white one. More than that I prefer the handouts from the DMU OMM department, the pictures and text do a great job of showing you what to do.

Lastly, I find it a bit sad to see so mnay DO students bashing OMM on these message boards. OMM is safe and effective and the literature backs that up (cranial is a seperate issue). If you want sources use Pubmed, especially articles by Greenman in JOAO and Nadler in Mayo clinic proced. regarding the existing literature.

What exactly are you going to tell your patients when they notice you are a DO and want to know in what way you are different? If you learn your OMM (which takes a lot of time to master, but only regular practice here and there to be competent) your patients will love you and respect and admire the profession.

Great points in every detail, and I completley agree. You must have gone to a great school. But, I didn't see any SCS of the C-spine or Sacrum at all this year.

 

[bones]

So there are a pile of books sitting in my bookstore that are all rather pricy and I'm trying to decide which books it would be worth buying if any.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what books are absolute must haves in the area of OMM and DO philosophy? Or should I just spend extra time in the library using their copies?

This all depends on whether you want a book to understand OMM and DO philosophy for your personal knowledge to make you a far better osteopath or if you want something to help you do better in classes and boards (two totally separate issues).

As others have stated here, savarese is good for step one review. Books for your classes/grades will depend greatly on your school. best to ask your upper classmen. Ideally not the jaded ones that have given up on osteopathy...

As far as making you a better osteopath- go to the library and borrow AT Still's "The Philosophy and Mechanical Principles of Osteopathy". For me, reading this was the turning point in my learning process- when i went from screwing around attempting to fix stuff to consistently and significantly helping my patients.


P.S. if you go to one of the more mediocre teaching programs where they force you to memorize every counterstrain point in the body rather than teaching you treatment principles and challenging you to apply them on complicated patients... your best long term improvment will come from shadowing several skilled specialists during your first year. I know it is hard to fit it into your busy schedule, but if you can make it happen- it will make a huge difference in your learning process.

 

[bones]

As far as making you a better osteopath- go to the library and borrow AT Still's "The Philosophy and Mechanical Principles of Osteopathy".

In case you have trouble finding it, the 4th book link on the link below is a full text PDF of the book i mentioned.

http://www.interlinea.org/atstill.html