Osteopathic Manipulation

Excerpts from the entry on Osteopathic Manipulation in Relieving Pain Naturally by Dr. Sylvia Goldfarb and Roberta W. Waddell. For full entries on all 37 conditions and 27 treatments, order the book.

Osteopathic manipulation, one part of osteopathic medicine, is a treatment system that believes the body is entirely capable of healing itself. Understanding the body's structure and functions, with particular emphasis on the musculoskeletal system, which comprises two-thirds of the body, is the foundation of the osteopathic approach to medicine. Osteopathic practitioners use generally accepted methods of diagnosing and specialized techniques to check muscle and nerve restrictions, including osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), to detect and correct faulty structure and function. The osteopathic tradition has long recognized the positive effects of manipulative therapy on health, and believes that those effects go far beyond its important, but limited, use for musculoskeletal injuries in backs, joints, necks, shoulders, etc., on into rebalancing the body's whole system to lessen such illnesses as asthma, digestive disturbances, heart disease, or migraines, for example. In recent years, however, osteopathic physicians (DOs) have drawn closer to medical doctors (MDs). DOs and MDs now share offices, DOs, are reimbursed by insurance just as MDs are, and not all osteopathic physicians peform OMT anymore.

Also in this entry:

• The History of Osteopathy and Osteopathic Manipulation
• How Osteopathic Manipulation Works
• Painful Conditions that Respond Well to Therapy
• Advantages of Osteopathic Manipulation
• How Osteopathic Manipulation Is Used
• Cautions
• Clinical Studies

See below for full list of all conditions and treatments in the book. Or, download a complete Condition entry or Treatment entry for free.