Use and Effectiveness of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) in the Clinical Setting

While many physicians and patients are convinced of the efficacy of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT), strong evidence supporting such a claim is sparse.

The objectives of this study are to determine the scope of conditions currently being treated with OMT, identify conditions that are responsive and unresponsive to OMT, determine which osteopathic manipulative techniques are most beneficial in responsive conditions, determine if certain patient characteristics are present in those who are responsive to OMT, and determine which physicians have consistently positive outcomes with OMT for certain conditions.

As an observational study, this study will not impact any aspect of the care received by the patient participants. Data will be collected from patients and physicians through a series of questionnaires incorporated into an online data collection system. DO-Touch.NET will be utilized for physician recruitment, site personnel training, members portal for accessing study materials, coordination, and physician data collection. Assessment Center will be used for participant registration, data collection and study tracking/reporting. Patients aged 18 years and older who receive OMT from a participating physician at a DO-Touch.NET site will be recruited to participate in the study. Background data will be collected from the patients including demographics, presenting symptoms and severity, and impact on quality of life. Data on medical history, examination, diagnosis, treatment, and home instructions/plan will be gathered from the physician. On a daily basis for a week after OMT, data will be collected from the patient regarding symptom severity and health changes. Impact of symptoms on quality of life will be reassessed after one week. These data will be collected from a patient over a series of office visits when applicable.

Ongoing observation of both positive and negative outcomes associated with OMT directly from patients will be increasingly more valuable, producing and sustaining a current evidence base for OMT and identifying priorities for further osteopathic research.