Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment is for All DOs
To the Editor:
I'm writing in response to the letter by Robert M. Tessien, DO, that appeared in the November 2005 issue of JAOA—The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association (“Osteopathic manipulative treatment out of a horse and buggy.” 2005;105:496–497. Available at: http://www.jaoa.org/cgi/content/full/105/11/496). In his letter, Dr Tessien relates his many years of personal and professional experience supporting the efficacy of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT). I believe that my experience, too, can shed light on how OMT has been used successfully by primary care osteopathic physicians who have integrated it into their busy practices. Although I see on average only about 30 patients per day—compared with the 40 to 70 patients per day that Dr Tessien typically saw during his career—I also frequently perform OMT, in approximately 60% of my patient visits.
Osteopathic manipulative treatment has long been a useful tool at the disposal of primary care physicians. However, the attitude of many osteopathic physicians (DOs) today is that OMT has become a specialized procedure, with the average DO no longer believing that it is a useful skill that can be effectively integrated into daily practice.1 Some of the fault for this turn of events lies with the profession itself. In colleges of osteopathic medicine, osteopathic theory and methods are frequently taught by specialists in neuromuscular medicine, who themselves have limited and focused practices of musculoskeletal medicine. This may be one reason that many students end up feeling that the proper practice of OMT is so complicated and involved that they would never be able to successfully integrate it into their own practices—whether their practices are in primary care or other specialties.
Of course, the theories and methods of osteopathic manipulative medicine must be taught in osteopathic medical schools by experts in the field. Nevertheless, I believe that our profession needs to do more to help students realize that OMT can be performed not only by experts who are adept at treating those patients with complex musculoskeletal disorders, but also by all DOs in daily practice.
The osteopathic medical profession was built on the backs of primary care physicians who used OMT with proven results for their patients. As his letter makes clear, Dr Tessien did not administer long treatments, but he did win an excellent reputation and had patients coming from long distances to receive his treatments. His experience shows the beneficial results of manual therapy delivered by the hands of an osteopathic primary care physician. In addition, Dr Tessien showed that the skillful delivery of OMT is not limited to those DOs who specialize in neuromuscular medicine.
Students should be exposed to OMT both in the classroom and on clinical rotations. I advocate increasing the exposure of osteopathic medical students to primary care physicians skilled in using OMT. This will help students learn how to incorporate into practice the theories taught in the classroom by more specialized instructors.
1 Johnson SM, Kurtz, ME. Diminished use of osteopathic manipulative treatment and is impact on the uniqueness of the osteopathic profession. Acad Med. 2001;76:821 –828.10.1097/00001888-200108000-00016Search in Google Scholar PubMed
The American Osteopathic Association
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Articles in the same Issue
- AOA COMMUNICATIONS (REPRINTS)
- Like AOA Custom Publications, JAOA Now Offers Uniform Life Span for Quizzes
- LETTERS
- Time to Accept Allopathic Physicians Into AOA-Approved Residencies?
- Will the Last DO Turn Off the Lights?
- EDITORIALS
- The National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine
- AOA COMMUNICATIONS (REPRINTS)
- With Second Essay Competition, History Committee Offers More Incentives to Explore Profession's Past
- CLINICAL PRACTICE
- Mechanism-of-Injury Approach to Evaluating Patients With Blast-Related Polytrauma
- Nonobstetric Lacerations of the Vagina
- SPECIAL COMMUNICATIONS
- Characteristics of Osteopathic Physicians Choosing to Practice Rural Primary Care
- CASE REPORTS
- A 44-Year-Old Woman With Hematemesis and Cutaneous Hemorrhages as a Result of Superwarfarin Poisoning
- STUDENT CONTRIBUTIONS
- Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment of a 26-Year-Old Woman With Bell's Palsy
- MEDICAL EDUCATION
- Relationships Between Scores on the COMLEX-USA Level 2-Performance Evaluation and Selected School-Based Performance Measures
- Survey on the Clinical Skills of Osteopathic Medical Students
- LETTERS
- Progressive Idea for Osteopathic Medical Education
- Response
- Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment is for All DOs
- Osteopathic Physicians and Disaster Relief
Articles in the same Issue
- AOA COMMUNICATIONS (REPRINTS)
- Like AOA Custom Publications, JAOA Now Offers Uniform Life Span for Quizzes
- LETTERS
- Time to Accept Allopathic Physicians Into AOA-Approved Residencies?
- Will the Last DO Turn Off the Lights?
- EDITORIALS
- The National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine
- AOA COMMUNICATIONS (REPRINTS)
- With Second Essay Competition, History Committee Offers More Incentives to Explore Profession's Past
- CLINICAL PRACTICE
- Mechanism-of-Injury Approach to Evaluating Patients With Blast-Related Polytrauma
- Nonobstetric Lacerations of the Vagina
- SPECIAL COMMUNICATIONS
- Characteristics of Osteopathic Physicians Choosing to Practice Rural Primary Care
- CASE REPORTS
- A 44-Year-Old Woman With Hematemesis and Cutaneous Hemorrhages as a Result of Superwarfarin Poisoning
- STUDENT CONTRIBUTIONS
- Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment of a 26-Year-Old Woman With Bell's Palsy
- MEDICAL EDUCATION
- Relationships Between Scores on the COMLEX-USA Level 2-Performance Evaluation and Selected School-Based Performance Measures
- Survey on the Clinical Skills of Osteopathic Medical Students
- LETTERS
- Progressive Idea for Osteopathic Medical Education
- Response
- Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment is for All DOs
- Osteopathic Physicians and Disaster Relief
