Volume 103, Issue 5

Data presented in this study were gathered through a national mail survey of 3000 randomly selected osteopathic physicians. A total of 955 questionnaires were usable for analysis. Osteopathic physicians' likelihood of using eleven osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) techniques (articulatory, counterstrain, cranial, facilitated positional release, fascial ligamentous release, functional, high-velocity low-amplitude thrust, lymphatic, muscle energy, myofascial/integrated neuromuscular release, and soft tissue) was determined. The relative frequency of use from most (soft tissue) to least (cranial) used was also determined. Respondents were more likely to use direct techniques than indirect or direct-indirect techniques. Demographic variables of gender, age, and specialty training were found to be related to the techniques used most. Female osteopathic physicians and older osteopathic physicians were more likely to use indirect techniques, whereas male and younger physicians preferred direct techniques. Moreover, OMT specialists used a broader range of techniques than other osteopathic physicians, and family physicians were more apt to use high-velocity low-amplitude thrust than other primary care or non-primary care osteopathic physicians. These results not only have implications for curricular planning in all phases of osteopathic undergraduate medical education, graduate medical education, and continuing medical education programs, but also for research on the quality and effectiveness of various OMT techniques.

Patient characteristics, chief complaints, and diagnoses can be used to specify the examination content for performance-based assessments of clinical skills. The purpose of this investigation was to explore osteopathic and allopathic medical practice patterns and to provide summary statistics that can be used to delimit potential assessment content areas for a clinical skills assessment targeted at osteopathic physicians. Analyses of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey indicated that the types of patients seen by osteopathic and allopathic physicians in office-based settings are somewhat different. Furthermore, the reasons that patients seek care, and accompanying diagnostic outcomes, can vary by physician type. These differences suggest that from a content perspective, a performance-based clinical skills evaluation targeted at osteopathic physicians should be characteristically different from one designed for allopathic physicians.

In part 2 of their report, the authors continue to evaluate myoelectric data obtained from spinal motion dynamics involved in clinical rotation tests. They add to the ipsilateral regional analysis of motor performance as previously presented and analyze the total bilateral myoelectric activity gathered concurrently at individual thoracic vertebral segments during simultaneous rotation left and right motion tests. The authors' hypothetical consideration concerns the nature of composite behaviors at these vertebral segments during active and passive motions and the role that postural dynamics play in movement function. They consider these concepts in the context of the study's experimental design and also within the broader concept of the osteopathic musculoskeletal examination. Results revealed pronounced similarity in individual spinal electromyographic patterns whether motions were volitional or physician induced. Analysis demonstrates the bell-shaped myoelectric behavior pattern originally reported in part 1. The authors also discuss a functional model for this myoelectric activity involving a helical spinal motor pattern with a focal area of transition that is dynamic in response to postural and motion demands.

Mental stress has an enormous impact on physical health. This impact commonly manifests as headache, muscle tension, acne, peptic ulcer disease, or a compromised immune system. Stress is also associated with more serious adverse effects, such as cardiovascular disease and exacerbations of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. As these effects are far-reaching, it is important for primary care physicians to identify and manage the symptoms of mental stress in their patients. This is increasingly possible with office-based mental stress testing, which uses cardiovascular markers to identify patients who are overresponders to mental stress, and, thus, at risk for stress-induced disorders. Mental stress in this population can be managed with nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic interventions to improve patients' responses to stress and decrease morbidity and mortality associated with this condition.

The specific etiologic factor and pathogenesis of most dilated cardiomyopathies have yet to be described definitively. Hypotheses of the etiologic factor of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) abound. This report describes two patients with electrical injury in whom DCM developed after the electrical insult in the absence of other precipitating causes. Further histologic examination of myocardial tissue after electrical injury may reveal clues regarding the pathophysiology behind electrically induced DCM. Because electrical injury may be associated with myocardial dysfunction, short- and long-term evaluation of left ventricular function may be warranted.