Care to explain further? I'm intrigued. Does it have something to do with improving blood flow to the flaps?
Think about what some of these flaps entail. Youre taking a muscle, dissecting it off the insertion point, rotating it around a neurovascular pedicle and then attaching it somewhere else. You better believe there will be some pain after that procedure!
There are gentle OMT techniques that can be used to enhance lymphatic and vascular drainage, but the most bang for my buck came with TRAM flap patients.
I worked with one plastic surgeon who had his TRAM patients sitting at no lower than 45 degrees in their bed for a week after the procedure. Well, a 65 year old womans spine isnt always accustomed to that.
These patients have arthritis and other conditions that can be treated with OMT...the positioning postoperatively only exacerbates them.
Another surgeon I worked with did a lot of hand cases. OMT has been shown to be useful in treating carpal tunnel syndrome, adhesive capsulitis and other joint dysfunction with limited ROM. So...these patients would come in 2 months post op...what better time to also use OMT to not only examine but to help increase ROM...something that can be significantly compromised secondary to adhesions in post op patients.
So are the uses in this field as varied as they might by in General Surgery (lot of bowel cases), Ortho or primary care? Of course not.
BUT, any good DO should be able to take his knowledge of anatomy, physiology and the intimate understanding of the musculoskeletal system and develop treatments that can benefit the patient.
You can aid postop healing, treat pain and perhaps even get patients back to full function quicker.
Are you going to save lives? No.
But if it helps your patients and only takes a few minutes per day, then I say its a valuable treatment modality.
