Diabetes and Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The Research Plan

Aims Type II diabetes is a common endocrine disorder of glucose metabolism that is linked to considerable morbidity and mortality. In the United States, diabetes is a major cause of cardiovascular disorders including heart disease and stroke. It continues to rise in prevalence despite the advances made in methods of diabetic glucose control. Diabetes is a complex chronic disease that involves continuous medical care and self-management strategies. The main treatment strategies consist of medications and lifestyle modifications. However, the strategies used in clinical trials while effective are impractical as they are intensive and expensive to ensure maintaining these treatment strategies over time. A major opportunity exists for treatment modalities that are affordable and readily implementable such as OMT.

Osteopathic literature suggests that there may be a role for OMT in the treatment of patients with diabetes mellitus. This is supported by our preliminary data reported below. The OMT protocol developed for this research study is based on osteopathic literature and geared towards optimizing bodily function for patients with Type II diabetes and blood-glucose homeostasis. OMT utilizes manual forces directed to improve physiological function and homeostasis by reducing localized dysfunctions of the body referred to as somatic dysfunctions. OMT may be beneficial in reducing blood glucose levels in Type 2 diabetic individuals. Improving glucose levels in type II diabetics would reduce the morbidities and complications of this disorder and have a large impact on patients' health outcomes as well as in healthcare systems worldwide.

Specific Aims: To determine if the OMT protocol outlined in this study will improve glucose and A1C levels in individuals with Type II diabetes.

1. To investigate whether the use of OMM (osteopathic manipulative medicine) targeting pancreatic function will decrease blood glucose in diabetic patients after each OMM treatment (short-term effects)
2. To investigate whether the use of OMM targeting pancreatic function over a 3 month period will decrease blood glucose in diabetic patients (long-term effects)
3. To investigate whether the use of OMM targeting pancreatic function over a 3 month period will decrease A1C levels in diabetic patients (long-term effects)