OMT Stories

[Skeeks]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I am curious if anyone would be willing to tell a story where you observed OMT either helping someone, or even better where you were successfully treated by OMT yourself. The less placebo like the experience the better.

I am just curious to learn other people's experience with this since I know very little about OMT. I have heard a number of experiences from students and doctors alike, some more believable than others, including "OMT releived my brother's chronic lower back pain so he no longer needs pain meds" and "OMT allowed my daughter to not need braces even after a dentist said she would have to have them". The latter I have my doubts about, even though this was a DO physician himself that performed the OMT on his own daughter. I would like to hear any and all stories anyone is willing to share.

I dont want anyone posting anything negative about someone's shared experience. Lets keep this friendly please. Thanks!

 

[GlowInTheDark]

Personally: persistent tension headaches and tension in my left shoulder (desk job for a year). After a few weeks into OMT its gone (combined with me doing specific exercises for it)...once I got over the pain of people not knowing what they're doing.

Witnessed: 50 yr old male came into ED complaining of chest pain, doctor I was with did normal history. Man had been in 2 times prior with chest pain. ECGs, Echos, even a Cath had been done to check for an MI with nothing found.

Doctor decided to start over on the history because something did make sense. Turns out guy had fallen off a ladder 3 months prior. Long story short, doc got out an OMT table in an another area, did some magic, and the guy had instant relief of his chest pain.

Doctor told patient to check-in via phone every day for the next few days. It has been about 4 months and chest pain hasn't returned.

Too bad the ED spent thousands of dollars to rule out an MI when a decent history could've saved time and $.

 

[touchpause13]

My dad went into ER with severe backpain. (More like hobbled into ER) Doc did OMT and my dad walked out of ER pain free. 🙂

Sent from my SCH-I405 using SDN Mobile

 

[SLC]

Had a classmate last year with persistent Sacroiliac pain, we had to do practice logs on classmates as part of our OMM curriculum so we went into the lab and attempted to treat it.

I noticed during the initial examination that he had some restriction to flexion in his hip, so we did a muscle energy technique for it and that also resolved the sacroiliac pain right then and there. This was first semester, before I realized that the treatments for both hip flexion restriction, and certain sacroiliac dysfunctions can be combined. Either way, he was pretty happy with the result because it had been nagging him for over a month.

 

[Syialb]

One of the DOs I shadowed was a PCP with his own practice. He took normal patients on most days, and 2 days out of the week would be exclusively OMM patients.

On an OMM day, I remember one patient came in with lower back pain. The doctor had him lay down on the table and showed me how the patient's legs were uneven--his right leg was 3-4 inches longer than his left leg.

After 20 minutes of manipulations (I forget the technique he used, but I think it was strain-counterstrain), the doctor had me look at his legs again. They were perfectly even. It blew my mind.

The doctor told me that the cause for the asymmetry was poor chronic posture. His fix wasn't permanent and the patient would need regular treatments like this.

 

[Skeeks]

Personally: persistent tension headaches and tension in my left shoulder (desk job for a year). After a few weeks into OMT its gone (combined with me doing specific exercises for it)...once I got over the pain of people not knowing what they're doing.

Witnessed: 50 yr old male came into ED complaining of chest pain, doctor I was with did normal history. Man had been in 2 times prior with chest pain. ECGs, Echos, even a Cath had been done to check for an MI with nothing found.

Doctor decided to start over on the history because something did make sense. Turns out guy had fallen off a ladder 3 months prior. Long story short, doc got out an OMT table in an another area, did some magic, and the guy had instant relief of his chest pain.

Doctor told patient to check-in via phone every day for the next few days. It has been about 4 months and chest pain hasn't returned.

Too bad the ED spent thousands of dollars to rule out an MI when a decent history could've saved time and $.

That is a really awesome experience. Did the doctor mention how/why the patient's fall cause the chest pain? Was it referred? How does that sort of thing happen?

Thanks for sharing!

One of the DOs I shadowed was a PCP with his own practice. He took normal patients on most days, and 2 days out of the week would be exclusively OMM patients.

On an OMM day, I remember one patient came in with lower back pain. The doctor had him lay down on the table and showed me how the patient's legs were uneven--his right leg was 3-4 inches longer than his left leg.

After 20 minutes of manipulations (I forget the technique he used, but I think it was strain-counterstrain), the doctor had me look at his legs again. They were perfectly even. It blew my mind.

The doctor told me that the cause for the asymmetry was poor chronic posture. His fix wasn't permanent and the patient would need regular treatments like this.

That is a pretty crazy expereince. Experiences like these make me wonder, what does a non-OMT trained physician do with someone who presents with a problem like this? Very interesting! Thank you!

 

[GlowInTheDark]

That is a really awesome experience. Did the doctor mention how/why the patient's fall cause the chest pain? Was it referred? How does that sort of thing happen?

Thanks for sharing!

IIRC, displaced ribs or a rotation of the rib cage.

Another I forgot about...my wife was pregnant and hip pain (the hormones of pregnancy cause connective tissues to loosen up). One specifically tissue is the pubic symphysis and the sacroilliac joint. I did some OMT a few minutes everyday and her hip pain rarely came back.

OMT is a fun tool to have.

 

[Skeeks]

IIRC, displaced ribs or a rotation of the rib cage.

Another I forgot about...my wife was pregnant and hip pain (the hormones of pregnancy cause connective tissues to loosen up). One specifically tissue is the pubic symphysis and the sacroilliac joint. I did some OMT a few minutes everyday and her hip pain rarely came back.

OMT is a fun tool to have.

I have read some research about OMT during pregnancy. It seems to be really handy for that time, which is a big deal to me since my wife has already had two kids and we will probably have two more during medical school.

 

[Mr Kenobi]

Experiences like these make me wonder, what does a non-OMT trained physician do with someone who presents with a problem like this?

But seriously, the physicians that I have worked with that can't/don't want to take care of this type of issue themselves refer the patient to physical therapy.

 

[cabinbuilder]

I use it on patients every day. Just like people go to the Chiropractor, they come to me too only their insurnance pays for it. Nice when a patient comes in hunched over because they have spasm from working too hard, or falling, or soe other trauma. Nice to be able to fix the muscular spasms and the patient walks out feeling better withou having to Rx some pill that may or may not work.

 

[angldrps]

I use it on patients every day. Just like people go to the Chiropractor, they come to me too only their insurnance pays for it. Nice when a patient comes in hunched over because they have spasm from working too hard, or falling, or soe other trauma. Nice to be able to fix the muscular spasms and the patient walks out feeling better withou having to Rx some pill that may or may not work.

out of curiosity, do you continue to practice/improve your OMT skills throughout your residency training or does most of your skill comes from what you learned during medical school? For medical students who know they want to utlize OMT in their practice, is it common for them to look out specifically for those residencies that will provide them with OMT training? Asking this because I have little knowledge on how OMT and residencies work considering OMT is not commonly practiced by most physicians.

 

[coolingglasses]

When I was shadowing with a DO, we had a patient who was in all kinds of pain from an auto accident two months prior. Had a history of alcoholism (he quit drinking after the accident, I believe). Was on 20+ meds, and something like six were for pain. Obviously they weren't working. So after sitting down and interviewing the patient, he decides to refer him to an OMM specialist. That was the last I heard of it until a few months later. We were sitting down to talk about my LOR and I asked him how our patient's referral went. Told me he was doing a lot better, pretty much pain-free.

I didn't see the OMM for myself so maybe he was exaggerating.

 

[icevermin]

IIRC, displaced ribs or a rotation of the rib cage.

Another I forgot about...my wife was pregnant and hip pain (the hormones of pregnancy cause connective tissues to loosen up). One specifically tissue is the pubic symphysis and the sacroilliac joint. I did some OMT a few minutes everyday and her hip pain rarely came back.

OMT is a fun tool to have.

Yeah you had "fun" 😉

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[abolt18]

Doc I shadowed taught me some basic techniques (I think they were strain-counterstrain) to help my wife with lower back pain during pregnancy. She found it helpful, but only asked me to do it when she was in a lot of pain because I think she just didn't want to bother me.

 

[cabinbuilder]

out of curiosity, do you continue to practice/improve your OMT skills throughout your residency training or does most of your skill comes from what you learned during medical school? For medical students who know they want to utlize OMT in their practice, is it common for them to look out specifically for those residencies that will provide them with OMT training? Asking this because I have little knowledge on how OMT and residencies work considering OMT is not commonly practiced by most physicians.

My skill comes from what I learned in medical school and I had some really wicked family practice rotations during school with 3 of the best professors from our school who used OMT in their own practices regularly.

Residency, because it was osteopathic we had OMM review once a month with lecture and lab.

I have it done on myself quite regularly too and swap techniques with the person I go to.

I have done a few refresher courses during ACOFP conventions.

 

[angldrps]

My skill comes from what I learned in medical school and I had some really wicked family practice rotations during school with 3 of the best professors from our school who used OMT in their own practices regularly.

Residency, because it was osteopathic we had OMM review once a month with lecture and lab.

I have it done on myself quite regularly too and swap techniques with the person I go to.

I have done a few refresher courses during ACOFP conventions.

thank you for the information.🙂

 

[Bacchus]

I use it on patients every day. Just like people go to the Chiropractor, they come to me too only their insurnance pays for it. Nice when a patient comes in hunched over because they have spasm from working too hard, or falling, or soe other trauma. Nice to be able to fix the muscular spasms and the patient walks out feeling better withou having to Rx some pill that may or may not work.

Flexeril 10mg works on everyone... by putting them to sleep!

 

[Mehd School]

I hope adcoms read this thread so they'll know exactly when these stories are verbally copied and pasted.

 

[Syialb]

I hope adcoms read this thread so they'll know exactly when these stories are verbally copied and pasted.

Haha, my thought as soon as I hit submit after my post: I hope future applicants don't copypasta the anecdotes they read in this thread

 

[amistret]

OP you should make some time to go shadow a DO who specifically does OMM. Ask the patients about their experience when the doctor leaves the room, so no bias is present. My first day shadowing, I didn't even ask, when the doctor left the room the man, whose wife was getting treated, turned me to and told me he had back pain for years and went to every thing under the sun for help. After 3 treatments of OMM he has never had back pain again, this was a few years after.

 

[coolingglasses]

I hope adcoms read this thread so they'll know exactly when these stories are verbally copied and pasted.

I have sources, a copycat is gonna be dead in the water lol

 

[Haxx]

I work at a Neurology clinic, and I had a long conversation yesterday with one of our docs who said, even as a specialist, she uses OMT in about 25% of her visits. What surprised me is that when I asked what she normally uses OMT for, she responded by saying that even if she never once used it for treatment of a problem (which she has many times) the training would be invaluable in her physical exams. Having additional skills in palpitation of the MS system has been incredibly useful for her apparently.

The conversation was encouraging, and makes me excited to learn OMT now. Yay!

She's quoted in an article that's soon to be published in some MN Medical journal about DO's. If we get a copy here at the clinic, I'll scan it in for ya'll.

 

[Kinematic]

Girlfriend's step-father is a chiropractor. Just last week I went with them on a week long trip to Cabo San Lucas and found myself with an insanely painful headache one night which lasted throughout the next day. Tried NSAIDs and even some Tramadol (which is available OTC down south ha) to no avail. Finally gave in and asked the step-father-in-relation to help me out and he simply did a few muscular pressure points and aligned my cervical vertebrae and, no joke, I could feel the headache smooth away over the next half hour.

Can't wait to know this stuff.

 

[Back 5]

Girlfriend's step-father is a chiropractor. Just last week I went with them on a week long trip to Cabo San Lucas and found myself with an insanely painful headache one night which lasted throughout the next day. Tried NSAIDs and even some Tramadol (which is available OTC down south ha) to no avail. Finally gave in and asked the step-father-in-relation to help me out and he simply did a few muscular pressure points and aligned my cervical vertebrae and, no joke, I could feel the headache smooth away over the next half hour.

Can't wait to know this stuff.

When it's warranted, OMT/Manipulations work wonderfully. When it's warranted. Too many people (Chiropractors too) think manipulations are a cure-all when they are a very handy tool to have, again, when necessary.

 

[Escape_Goat]

Pregnant wife. Frequent headaches and debilitating sciatic pain. OMT. Tada.

 

[Jwalker]

Most OMT usually takes 2-3 treatments in my experience. I'm surprised by all the one and dones here

 

[Goro]

I've been helped numerous times by my DO colleagues with severe muscular or joint pains. One helpful time was for a myofascial injury under my left shoulder that was so intense I thought it was neuralgia. Another was a strained muscle in my neck (from too much time on the computer) and my OMT colleague fixed in in five minutes with some counterstrain techniques.

I had some students living near my house and one was an older mom, whose daughter lived with her and was good friends with my son. My wife hurt a lower back muscle and I ask student if she and her roommate if they could do anything for her.

We walked over there and while the kids played my students worked on my wife. It was interesting to see the gears spinning in their heads as they mentally worked through problems and solutions.

On the way home, my wife says, "you know, I think I DO feel better!"

OMT is not a panacea. I have some lateral epicondylitis that Advil works much better on than stretching exercises, and some really painful plantar fasciitis, but which is difficult to treat in any modality.

I firmly believe that testamonials do not make medicine, but I've seen enough of my own faculty colleagues helped by my DO colleagues. My own experiences (and a review of the literature) convince me that OMT can be an effective treatment moiety. This from a normally very skeptical PhD.

I am curious if anyone would be willing to tell a story where you observed OMT either helping someone, or even better where you were successfully treated by OMT yourself. The less placebo like the experience the better.

I am just curious to learn other people's experience with this since I know very little about OMT. I have heard a number of experiences from students and doctors alike, some more believable than others, including "OMT releived my brother's chronic lower back pain so he no longer needs pain meds" and "OMT allowed my daughter to not need braces even after a dentist said she would have to have them". The latter I have my doubts about, even though this was a DO physician himself that performed the OMT on his own daughter. I would like to hear any and all stories anyone is willing to share.

quote]

 

[Bacchus]

^To the above. I find, that almost everyone has relief with scapular release. Not necessarily counterstrain, but MFR/Soft tissue when you get your fingers under there. I did it in the office not to long ago, just for the hell of it, because I was hard-assed about the patient having a MSK complaint and not a visceral complaint. She wasn't drug seeking, but I wasn't going to give her narcotics anyway. She had gastric bypass surgery and per the surgeon should avoid/use NSAIDs sparingly. That initially was going to be my treatment of choice. I took her to the treatment room, did about 10 minutes of MFR/soft tissue on her back and scapula. She was a new woman. Probably wouldn't have worked on her as long, but still would have, if the patient after her hadn't cancelled.

 

[costales]

As a skeptical 1st year, I saw an OMM resident give instant relief to a runner with plica syndrome at our annual school 5K. Two years later the guy stopped by to report that he was still pain-free - no meds. One of these days he might still need surgery, but there is no doubt in my mind that OMM has its uses and has helped many people. (What is plica syndrome? http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1252011-overview).

 

[Back 5]

I've been helped numerous times by my DO colleagues with severe muscular or joint pains. One helpful time was for a myofascial injury under my left shoulder that was so intense I thought it was neuralgia. Another was a strained muscle in my neck (from too much time on the computer) and my OMT colleague fixed in in five minutes with some counterstrain techniques.

I had some students living near my house and one was an older mom, whose daughter lived with her and was good friends with my son. My wife hurt a lower back muscle and I ask student if she and her roommate if they could do anything for her.

We walked over there and while the kids played my students worked on my wife. It was interesting to see the gears spinning in their heads as they mentally worked through problems and solutions.

On the way home, my wife says, "you know, I think I DO feel better!"

OMT is not a panacea. I have some lateral epicondylitis that Advil works much better on than stretching exercises, and some really painful plantar fasciitis, but which is difficult to treat in any modality.

I firmly believe that testamonials do not make medicine, but I've seen enough of my own faculty colleagues helped by my DO colleagues. My own experiences (and a review of the literature) convince me that OMT can be an effective treatment moiety. This from a normally very skeptical PhD.

Good post.

 

[mkhuc]

Treated a classmate with a tension headache this week. HVLA and FPR on the C-Spine with a dural venous sinus drainage (OCF). It was completely gone.

OMT is also great for treating "student back syndrome" which all of us have after an epic study session.

 

[Lifschitz]

Treated a classmate with a tension headache this week. HVLA and FPR on the C-Spine with a dural venous sinus drainage (OCF). It was completely gone.

OMT is also great for treating "student back syndrome" which all of us have after an epic study session.

What do you find useful for "student back syndrome?" Extra thanks if the typical OMS-I who has just finished their first semester can perform it. 🙂

 

[mkhuc]

Not sure what your curriculum is like and what you know so far, but doing some ME on T and C spine, followed by some Counterstrain on levator scap, supraspinatus is something you can do quickly in a chair that can provide instant relief.

 

[Bacchus]

What do you find useful for "student back syndrome?" Extra thanks if the typical OMS-I who has just finished their first semester can perform it. 🙂

We routinely did prone HVLA to the T-spine and a lumbar roll/HVLA for our backs. The prone HVLA to the T-spine is fairly simple. Once we did cervical HVLA in lab, we had a friend who would routinely perform it on us.

Barring your inability to do HVLA (if you haven't learned it yet), a good stretch will often do the trick. Just do the quick and dirty stuff. No need for the fancy pants ALS/BLT/FPR/etc.