Keeping the Flames of OMM Burning

David C. Hogarty

doi:10.7556/jaoa.2008.108.8.461

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Keeping the Flames of OMM Burning

David C. Hogarty

Published/Copyright: August 1, 2008

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From the journal Journal of Osteopathic Medicine Volume 108 Issue 8

To the Editor:

I am writing in response to the letter by Stephen M. Davidson, DO,¹ that appeared in the February issue of JAOA—The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. Dr Davidson's analysis of education at colleges of osteopathic medicine is “right on the money” for the most part. In my experience, however, the failure of osteopathic medical students to learn how to apply osteopathic principles and practice (OPP) and osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) in clinical settings is a result of an almost total lack of follow-through once students get into their externships—and ultimately into postgraduate training.

If none of my attending osteopathic physicians had taken the time to show me how to apply my theoretical knowledge of physiology and pharmacology to actual clinical situations, I would never have been able to make a correct diagnosis or to prescribe the indicated treatment—pharmacologic or otherwise. I use OMM daily in my practice of physical medicine and rehabilitation, but my application of OMM is possible only because of the strong one-on-one mentorship provided to me during my externship and postgraduate training.

Frankly, all the practical knowledge I have regarding OMM was gained through my own initiative—that is, by using most of my elective time to rotate with DOs who could show me how to use my hands to make an osteopathic diagnosis and provide osteopathic manipulative treatment. There need to be more formal supports for osteopathic medical students who want to learn to use their hands. Such formal supports may even help prevent those students with only marginal interest in OMM from completely abandoning it long before they get into residency training.

The bottom line is that the osteopathic medical profession wants to have it both ways. We want parity with our MD colleagues, but we also want to stay a distinct profession. In the “real world,” most of us practice allopathic medicine with a little OPP occasionally thrown in. My fear is that unless we, as a profession, commit in practice to doing things differently than our MD colleagues, we will eventually become fully assimilated into the allopathic medical profession. This assimilation would be a tragedy because there are many unique aspects of osteopathic medicine that are of great value to patients.

As a side note, I have recently learned that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) is conducting a randomized controlled trial on the efficacy of craniosacral therapy in the treatment of patients with migraine headache.^2,3 The principal investigator in this trial is an MD neurologist, while the coinvestigators are MDs and researchers with PhDs, and the individual providing manual therapy is a registered nurse who received training at the Upledger Institute (K.R. Faurot, PA, MPH, oral communication, May 2008).

It is amazing to me that the osteopathic medical profession is not more aggressively pursuing studies of the kind taking place at UNC-Chapel Hill,^2,3 especially since evidence-based medicine is now becoming the “coin of the realm.”

Lastly, I want to thank Dr Davidson¹ and all the other mentors out there who are keeping the flames of OMM burning, and who have taken the time to pass on their knowledge to me and many others.

1 Davidson SM. OMM education vs “real world” medicine [letter]. J Am Osteopath Assoc. 2008;108:87-89. Available at: http://www.jaoa.org/cgi/content/full/108/2/87. Accessed July 31, 2008.Search in Google Scholar

2 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Suffering from Migraine Headaches? Help us learn more by participating in this research study: Magnets and Craniosacral Therapy for Migraine [brochure]. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill;2006 .Search in Google Scholar

3 Craniosacral therapy in migraine: a feasibility study. ClinicalTrials.gov Web site. Available at: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00665236. Accessed July 31, 2008.Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2008-08-01

Published in Print: 2008-08-01

The American Osteopathic Association

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