Originally posted by DrMom
Practice as much as you can and you'll find that you do improve.
I cannot agree more with this statement.
Between classes and during study breaks I always see the same half dozen people practicing. And these are the people (myself included) who do really well in class, on lab practicals, and (hopefully) on the boards. These are also the people who have a strong desire to use the skills acquired in the future.
As you move along in OMM class, particularly second year, "practicing" is not the same as sitting down with Netter and trying to cram stuff into your brain.
"Practicing" becomes treating your friends. Before doing any treatment you need to diagnose. Rotation, Side bending, freedoms of movement, restrictions of movement, tender points, and especially any anomalies that your patient may have that would make a particular technique a really bad idea. These are your basic skills taught in the first few weeks of class. You always go back to them and you always need to do them.
As you begin to learn techniques you will find there are some techniques you like and others you don't. You probably need to learn them all now, but you will find that others become your favorites.
A fellow poster mentioned UAAO. I have found this club here at PCOM to be the greatest asset to helping my OMM "learning curve" (
😉 ). I learn techniques, methods to approaching a patients, and clinical issues that they just can't fit into lab. Lab teaches you the basics and then some. UAAO teaches you to build on the basics, use your brain rather than just mimicking the pictures in your lab manual, and really gets you excited about OMM.
There are plenty of books out there to help you grasp concepts of OMM. Many school seem to use the DiGiovanna book. I have read through it and for myself, I don't like it. I use it to reference and to read to better understand things for an exam, but when it comes to wanting to really dig into a concept or to gather information for a case study, I go to Foundations. There are other books in your schools library or bookstore as well.
Ask your professors which books they like. Or even better, ask teh OMM fellows (if your schools has them) which books THEY like...they are less likely to refer you to something they wrote...
😉
But again, keep practicing. This isn't histology...you can't just look at pictures over and over and think it will suddenly click and make sense. I will tell you, though, that for some people OMM doesn't start to make sense until late rin first year or even into second year, so don't get discouraged!
