Osteopathic medicine is a system of medicine that focuses on treating the whole person, enhancing the body’s health and ability to heal, not just addressing specific symptoms or diseases. In the United States, DOs and MDs can train in any specialty in medicine. There are skilled osteopaths in many parts of the world, however, licensing varies. Osteopathic schools teach that the body has an innate ability directed towards healing. Part of our schooling involves learning osteopathic manipulative treatment aimed at supporting the body’s natural healing ability. Some osteopathic physicians receive extra training in manipulative medicine and specialize in this treatment.
Traditional osteopathic manipulative medicine can help the body heal during illness, but you don’t have to be sick to benefit from osteopathic manipulative treatment, as it optimizes health, well being, development, and functioning.
At the core of our training is a philosophy that the body is a unit of function and we are each composed of spirit, mind, and body. The structure of the body is involved with its optimal function. Addressing this interrelationship is vital. A healthy body helps the mind to heal, and a healthy body and attitude help the mind to function best. The body has a tremendous capacity to heal, self-regulate, and maintain health—the structure of our body and how our body functions are interrelated. Therefore, osteopathic medical treatment and osteopathic manipulative treatment is based on the understanding of the oneness of the body and its ability to heal and self-regulate. The interrelationship of the structure of our body and how it functions is key.
The goal is to find the root cause of the body’s dysfunction. This is accomplished by a detailed history, physical exam, and structural exam. We often think of manipulative treatment for a sore back or stiff neck, but the body’s structure is always involved in illness. For instance, a child with asthma will have ribs that are tight and impinge on the nerves that aid breathing, their tailbone may be jammed from a hard fall, and a child with an ear infection has a mechanical obstruction to the drainage of the middle ear. Birth trauma, falls, accidents and concussions can all affect the ability of our body to function optimally. Even in the case of the same diagnosis, the treatment depends on the physical findings. Our bodies tell our story!
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Conditions Commonly Treated:
Many issues in infants and children can be treated with gentle effective osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM)
- Difficulty latching during breastfeeding or bottle-feeding
- Trauma from a long or difficult birth/irregular head shape
- Torticollis (side-bent neck)
- Colic, irritability, excessive crying
- Infants with too much or too little muscle tone
- Gastroesophageal reflux
- Colds, coughs
- Allergies
- Asthma
- Developmental delay
- Autism spectrum issues
- Ear infections
- Eczema
- Cerebral palsy
- ADHD/ADD
- Sports injuries
- Falls
- Scoliosis
OMT helps children adjust during episodes of rapid growth.