Which osteopathic schools put a greater focus on OMM?

[blt0503]

First post... woo hoo!!!

I have been struggling on whether to go to chiropractic, osteopathic, or medical schools, mostly on philosophy alone. I am posting here because I have read The D.O.'s by Norman Gevitz, which was a very enlightening book on the history of osteopathic medicine. It seemed to me that osteopathic medicine lost its identity along the way with its battles with medical doctors. I was just wondering if any osteopathic schools have a heavy focus on osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT). Any advice from graduates would be great!!!

Thanks🙂

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[Concubine]

First post... woo hoo!!!

I have been struggling on whether to go to chiropractic, osteopathic, or medical schools, mostly on philosophy alone. I am posting here because I have read The D.O.'s by Norman Gevitz, which was a very enlightening book on the history of osteopathic medicine. It seemed to me that osteopathic medicine lost its identity along the way with its battles with medical doctors. I was just wondering if any osteopathic schools have a heavy focus on osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT). Any advice from graduates would be great!!!

Thanks🙂

I'm assuming that by your struggle to go "chiropractic, osteopathic, or medical schools" you mean "chiropractic, osteopathic, or allopathic". In other words, osteopathic is medical school...

 

[blt0503]

Correct... allopathic instead of medical!!!

 

[JaggerPlate]

Correct... allopathic instead of medical!!!

his point was that it isn't "osteopathic vs medical school," DO schools are medical schools.

 

[justletmeinplz]

quackwatch.com

pretty much all you need to know about chiropractics.

 

[justletmeinplz]

And maybe you should be asking which DO schools put LESS of a focus on OMM...

From quackwatch.com -

In January 1995, a one-page questionnaire was mailed to 2,000 randomly selected osteopathic family physicians who were members of the American College of Osteopathic Physicians. About half returned usable responses. Of these, 6.2% said they treated more than half of their patients with OMT, 39.6% said they used it on 25% or fewer of their patients, and 32.1% said they used OMT on fewer than 5% of their patients. The study also found that the more recent the date of graduation from osteopathic school, the lower the reported use [7].

 

[DocRawk]

And maybe you should be asking which DO schools put LESS of a focus on OMM...

From quackwatch.com -

In January 1995, a one-page questionnaire was mailed to 2,000 randomly selected osteopathic family physicians who were members of the American College of Osteopathic Physicians. About half returned usable responses. Of these, 6.2% said they treated more than half of their patients with OMT, 39.6% said they used it on 25% or fewer of their patients, and 32.1% said they used OMT on fewer than 5% of their patients. The study also found that the more recent the date of graduation from osteopathic school, the lower the reported use [7].

The fact that fewer doctors are using OMM doesn't discredit it. If the OP has interest in OMM, then he/she should be asking what schools place a larger emphasis on it. The DO's I've shadowed use it pretty regularly for patients with musculoskeletal injuries.

 

[blt0503]

The posters above are totally misconstruing my initial question. I am very interested in what OMM provides to health care and would like to know if osteopathic schools still strongly encourage it. This why I asked for informative responses from graduates not just blasts against osteopaths or chiropractors. Do not take this as I am against OMM. I am very much interested in learning it, and this is why I am asking if any schools give more focus on it.

 

[blt0503]

As for quackwatch.com, it takes all the negative publicity of alternative medicine and broadcasts misconstrued material. After all, it is run by an MD

 

[prionsRbad]

The posters above are totally misconstruing my initial question. I am very interested in what OMM provides to health care and would like to know if osteopathic schools still strongly encourage it. This why I asked for informative responses from graduates not just blasts against osteopaths or chiropractors. Do not take this as I am against OMM. I am very much interested in learning it, and this is why I am asking if any schools give more focus on it.

You will learn OMM at every DO school. From what I've experienced, some schools will have stronger OMM or OPP programs than others. Look for schools that provide 2 full years of OMM as part of 1st and 2nd year curriculum. I don't want to start a war, but just as an example, DMU prides themselves of having "arguably one of the best OMM programs in the nation". Asking which schools have the best OMM programs is like asking which DO school is "the best". In other words, there's not a solid answer to your question because it's all a matter of opinion and what you consider a "good school or good OMM program" to be.

Do some research on schools you are interested in by looking up their curriculum and see how much focus they put on OMM. You can also do an OMM fellowship, which would give you more exposure/experience.

Good Luck

 

[justletmeinplz]

Quackwatch's info is based largely on published scientific studies. The fact is, much of the negative press about alternative medicine is well founded. And I believe alternative medicine wrote the book misconstrued information...

 

[blt0503]

Thank you prisonsRBAD for your response. I will look into each schools curriculum now to see which has provides OMM in the first couple of years.

Thanks justletmeinplz, for your insight on the world of quackwatch. It is because of things like quackwatch that the AMA was taken to Supreme Court and lost. Yes it provides "scientific studies" but how many times has the FDA allowed a "Scientifically Studied" drug pass through testing just to find out it causes worse side effects than the illness/disease it was trying to cure. I guess all "scientific studies" are valid.

 

[justletmeinplz]

Thank you prisonsRBAD for your response. I will look into each schools curriculum now to see which has provides OMM in the first couple of years.

Thanks justletmeinplz, for your insight on the world of quackwatch. It is because of things like quackwatch that the AMA was taken to Supreme Court and lost. Yes it provides "scientific studies" but how many times has the FDA allowed a "Scientifically Studied" drug pass through testing just to find out it causes worse side effects than the illness/disease it was trying to cure. I guess all "scientific studies" are valid.

And the alternative is "alternative medicine" which has yet to produce a valid, controlled scientific study. So, on the one hand we have a field that is constantly studying every manner of everything that it does and admits it makes a few mistakes (traditional medicine) and on the other we have fields that rejects scientific study as unnecessary and provide nice stories about patients that "feel better" as "proof" of it's validity (alternative medicine, chiropractic, etc.). I know which I'd choose.

 

[spazzz]

You will learn OMM at every DO school. From what I've experienced, some schools will have stronger OMM or OPP programs than others. Look for schools that provide 2 full years of OMM as part of 1st and 2nd year curriculum. I don't want to start a war, but just as an example, DMU prides themselves of having "arguably one of the best OMM programs in the nation". Asking which schools have the best OMM programs is like asking which DO school is "the best". In other words, there's not a solid answer to your question because it's all a matter of opinion and what you consider a "good school or good OMM program" to be.

Do some research on schools you are interested in by looking up their curriculum and see how much focus they put on OMM. You can also do an OMM fellowship, which would give you more exposure/experience.

Good Luck

PCOM -GA. Dr. E who is the first fellow in OMM teaches there....

 

[DragonWell]

First post... woo hoo!!!

I have been struggling on whether to go to chiropractic, osteopathic, or medical schools, mostly on philosophy alone. I am posting here because I have read The D.O.'s by Norman Gevitz, which was a very enlightening book on the history of osteopathic medicine. It seemed to me that osteopathic medicine lost its identity along the way with its battles with medical doctors. I was just wondering if any osteopathic schools have a heavy focus on osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT). Any advice from graduates would be great!!!

Thanks🙂

Every DO school will give you a solid base in OMM, but some schools do have a reputation for offering a bit more resources in this area. KCOM and PCOM come to mind. Any schools which offer OMM fellowships (basically an extra year of training in OMM) would be good choices.

Bear in mind, however, that the couple hundred hours of OMM training you will get in the first two years of DO school is pretty slim compared to most manual therapy practitioners. In comparison, my training to become a massage therapist was over 1000 hours, and in talking to people who have attended DC schools, they spend many more hours palpating and treating in the lab than we do. OMM in the first two years is basically just a crash course in manipulation, but if you are really serious about it, you will almost certainly want to look for additional training.

 

[tensegrity7]

As for DO schools that have a stong focus on OMM - I cannot personally speak for other schools, but UNECOM has an excellent OMM Department/Faculty and facilities.

Currently, facutly are invovled with EOM research with OMT and Angina research. Also, a new anatomy faculty member who is very dedicated to integrating OMM principles into his teaching. He is also setting up research to evaluate certain aspects of OMT at the cellular level. Although there is researh going on, it is by far more than secondary to teaching. The faculty also teaches all the various techniques and are overly focused in one area. Another huge asset to UNECOM is Dr. Frank Willard, a "world famous" neuroanatomist. He teaches throughout numerous courses - OMM, Neuroanaomty, Anatomy, many 2nd yr systems - and he can explain the physiology (viscero-somatic and somatic-visceral) behind why the various OMM techniques. Unbelievable lecturer...goes on for 3 hours without a break and no notes when doing voluntary reviews for boards!


Also, there are a lot of DOs around the New England area who use OMT as part of a practice or do OMT exclusively (many with full and closed practices due to high pt volume...somthing must be working)🙂!

The UNECOM curriculum is organized so that what students are covering in other classes corresponds to the material being taught in OPP (Osteopathic Principles and Practice). For instance, during the dissection of lower limb the first yr students are learning about muscle energy for the lower limb. During the first year there is one second year per 4 first years in the lab assiting, this is in addiiton to all the faculty and fellows.

The second yr is a system based curriculum and each system has an OMM lab focused on the system. Recently a hospitalist (DO) who actively uses manipulation in the hospital lectured on the cardiovascular system and later on the renal system with corresponding labs covering the treatments for pts with renal and cardio diseases. In addition, OMM residents and Osteopaths from around the community table train for the second years. This provides an excellent opportunity for learning from docs using OMM in practice. The second years also do OMM preceptorships with doc in the community.

Other oppor include - workshops on Saturdays 2x per month and workshops every Wednesday at lunch. In addition, there are many other additonal practice times set up by the fellows (med students are selected to assist in teaching anatomy & OPP as a full time position for a year). A univeristy club also pays the registration fee for attending the UAAO convocation each year. (mtg of osteopaths from aroudn the world where you learn a great deal). UNECOM, like many other osteopathic schools takes a lot of pride in OMM and helping evey student gain comptency and confidence in manipulation skills.

There are a lot of DO's who unfortunately do not use OMT for whatever reason - little time in appointments, have lost the skill, never gained the skill, ect. And some people (MDs, DOs and random others) may make negative comments about OMM. What's funny though is when one of these people gets to witness the difference OMT can make. I have personally seen so many patients helped by OMT and that is what is important. OMT cannot help everything, but it is ANOTHER TOOL in your toolbox that could make a differnece for a patient. I was really excited after one year of rotations, when 7 out of 8 MD's I rotated with had me treating them or their patients AND 2 of these MD's have since taken CME courses on OMT and are now trying to use it. Point being - if you really want to learn OMT and use it - there is a difference to be made with it and people to be helped by it.

Well - as you can see I am excited about UNECOM and OMM. Sorry fo rthe length but at least you will have an idea of what to expect from UNECOM with respect to OMM if you end up there.

Regardless of where you go to school - you will learn the OMM if you put the time and enrgy into it. Good luck.👍

 

[Lamborghini1315]

Come to DCOM buddy, our opp and epc faculty will make you a pro. Great thing here is that a lot of the opp instructors will give you non-opp knowledge along side with your opp learning. Its imp to be a complete doctor so i believe you will learn outside of opp when you are communicating with physicians at DCOM and at the same time not missing out on any opp related stuff. Pick a school that makes you a complete physician thats my emphasis..if some school has a strong basic science faculty and rest of the staff falls below your expectations then why be there? unless you want to do a phd in basic sciences. Like the osteopathic philosophy "complete body"..look at the complete body of a medical school. One strong arm might overcompensate for other drawbacks but that will only lead to a poor education.

 

[ares8402]

Can anyone provide info on CCOM, AZCOM, KCUMB, TUCOM-NV. How much do these schools emphasize OMM or integrate it into the curriculum?

 

[prionsRbad]

Can anyone provide info on CCOM, AZCOM, KCUMB, TUCOM-NV. How much do these schools emphasize OMM or integrate it into the curriculum?

I think your best bet would be to look up the curriculum on each schools website.