Background & Aims
Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is a non-pharmacological treatment for acute and chronic pain involving the gentle manipulation of soft tissues and joints to promote structural balance and alignment which enhances the body’s innate ability to heal itself. Studies evaluating OMT are scarce. The purpose of this preliminary study was to assess pain intensity in response to OMT treatment in a tertiary pediatric and young adult chronic pain clinic.
Methods
Pain assessment tools were implemented as part of clinical care. The patient population treated included children, adolescents and young adults with neuromuscular conditions, as well as typically developing individuals with chronic pain. Fifty-eight patients (57% female) were assessed before and after OMT (mean age=16.1 years [5-31]) across an average of 11 clinical visits (range 1-52 visits). Pain intensity was rated using a visual analogue scale (VAS) of pain intensity. The sample included 45 typically developing patients and 13 patients with a neuromuscular diagnosis (e.g. cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy). Paired samples t-tests were conducted.
Results
Pain intensity significantly decreased from before (M=3.49, SD=1.94) to after OMT (M=1.70, SD=1.63; t(57)=7.59, p<.01) at patients’ first visit to clinic. Pain intensity scores were significantly decreased from before (M=5.82, SD=2.94) to after OMT (M=3.14, SD=2.84; t(288)=20.6, p<.01) when evaluating repeated treatments. OMT appeared similarly effective regardless of gender or neuromuscular diagnosis.
Conclusions
Patients showed a significant decrease in pain immediately following OMT and the effect was sustained when patients returned for repeated treatment. Future work will focus on the duration of the pain relief between treatments and the nuances of individualized medicine approaches—detecting whether OMT is more beneficial for some patients compared to others or whether OMT combined with other approaches could yield greater benefit.
References
1. Franzetti, M, Dries, E, Stevens B, et al. Support for osteopathic manipulative treatment inclusion in chronic pain management guidelines: a narrative review. J Osteopath Med. 2021 Mar; 1;121 (3):307-317.
2. Cholewicki, J, Popovich, J, Reever, N, et al. The effects of osteopathic manipulative treatment on pain and disability in patients with chronic neck pain: A single-blinded randomized controlled trial. PM R 2022 Dec; 14(12): 1417-1429.
Presenting Author
Todd Dalberg
Poster Authors
Topics
- Treatment/Management: Complementary and Alternative therapies