Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment  

What is osteopathic therapy?

Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment or OMT is a hands-on practice used by trained osteopathic doctors. The aim of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment is to find where your body is healthy and then work with your body to restore health to the remaining areas.

The goal of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment is to restore and, where possible, improve your body’s natural structure. By achieving this, your body can function normally. Osteopathic philosophy also supports integrative care and the promotion of good health.

What are the principles of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment?

The first principles of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment are that the body is a unit and that its structure and function depend on each other.

Your body has self-regulatory mechanisms and a built-in ability to defend and repair itself. If anything interferes with these abilities, the result is disease. Health problems can also result from changes in your circumstances or environment that overcome your body’s capacity to heal.

Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment builds on these principles by recognizing how important the movement of fluids around your body is and the crucial part nerves play in controlling body fluids.

What problems can Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment help with?

Osteopathy is a flexible and adaptable approach to medicine, so it has many potential uses for treatment. 

The most common uses for Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment are in helping people who have musculoskeletal conditions. Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment can also be valuable in treating other types of health problems.

The Regenerative Medical Group team finds patients benefit from Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment for conditions like:

• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Autism
• Bell's palsy
• Degenerative disc disease
• Ear infections
• Epilepsy
• Fibromyalgia
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Acid reflux
• Tendinitis
• TMJ (temporomandibular joint disorder)

The benefits of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment can include an increased range of motion, improved function, and reduced pain or painful spasms. You might also find your immune system is stronger following Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment, which helps prevent further illness.

What happens when I have Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment?

Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment techniques range from a very light touch to firm pressure.

Some of the main Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment techniques include soft-tissue stretching (fascial release), localized isometric contraction-relaxation (muscle energy), positional or facilitative relaxation (counterstrain and balanced ligamentous tension), and gentle techniques to balance motion in the skull (cranial osteopathy).

Your osteopath at Regenerative Medical Group can explain the details of each of these treatments and can also recommend methods to help you with diet, exercise, and stretching exercises.

Patients often report feeling a sense of deep relaxation and restfulness during and after Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment.

To find out more about Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment and how it can help you, call Regenerative Medical Group today or book an appointment online.