DO techniques?

Sorry to be crazy on the posts lately.


I don’t want to rule out osteopathic schools, especially because I think the principles/perspectives might be more aligned with my personal view of medicine.


But…


…I’m one of those people that cringes hard when others crack their fingers or neck or whatever. Does this mean that I should go ahead and focus on allopathic schools, or could the osteopathic techniques be something that I would adjust to?

Some DO specialists don’t even use OMM unless they are in primary care setting. Even then, I’m not sure how often this technique is being used as a sole treatment.

Shadow a few DO’s. You’ll notice not all of them use OMM, and even among those that do only do so for a particular purpose.


I shadowed a Pain Management & Rehab doctor who treated patients with all the typical MD methods. But on one patient I saw her use OMM to correct the alignment of the hip (this was after a recent fall), and made a huge difference in that person’s level of pain and ability to walk. It was an “OMG, that stuff works?!?!” moment for me.


What I took away from it was that OMM can be useful, but it isn’t needed for every patient. As a DO you can end up in any number of primary care roles or specialties that may never use it - but if you run into a patient that can benefit from it, cool, you have one more tool in your toolbox.


However, you will probably do a lot of cringing in OMM lab.


It doesn’t really matter whether you go osteopathic or allopathic - in the end you’ll still be Dr. Amanda

Amanda -


I think the DO techniques ARE something you could adjust to. Only a small portion of them involve “thrust” techniques (what you would think of as popping a back). We didn’t learn any of them 1st year and only a handful this year. Almost all the techniques are very gentle, involving positioning or stretching or “myofascial release” to relieve restrictions in movement, or pain.


Kate

Pixie - AH! Dr. Amanda! Weird!


I think I’m going to try to find some DOs to shadow. Not sure how many there are in my area, but it’s a big metro, so I should definitely be able to find someone!


Kate - that reassures me a lot. I’m sure that everyone has their weird quirks they have to get over. Mine just happens to be popping stuff. Needless to say, ortho is not for me, haha.

From a different perspective, I’m an MD who incorporates OMM in my practice (trained in a dually-accredited residency). I’m not comfortable with high-velocity maneuvers and probably never will be, but the myofacial release techniques Kate mentioned are a godsend to some of my chronic pain patients and “weekend warriors.” Sure beats writing out another script for Robaxin!

jmdmd,


Thanks so much for the alternate perspective! I’ll keep that in mind, too!

I personally love the high velocity (“cracking”) part of OMM but it was only three or four classes out of two years of training. The rest is pretty tame. The harder thing to get used to is having to sit in shorts while your classmate manhandles you in lab!

Hehe! I confess to having been rather excited when we finally learned the “Kirksville crunch” (not it’s real name


Kate

When I was at my Western interview they had one of the OMM falculty come in and give a demonstration on a fellow applicant. He walked the applicants through an examination, diagnosis, and treatment. I didn’t notice any ‘thrusting’ techniques, more feeling muscle groups and seeing how joints moved. The diagnostic tools OMM gives is pretty impresive and I can see how it would be useful for primary care, emergency medicine and sports medicine. The presentation made me more excited about the DO route, and I’m glad they included it in the interview day.

Well, I wouldn’t take this one thing that grosses you out to change the course of your career. If their philosophy is more in line with your views then I would go that route.

Thanks, everyone! You’ve given me some really great perspectives. I think I’m going to apply both ways, especially seeing that there is an MD who uses OMM. I guess I still have a whole year and a half to decide, haha.

Hey, had to use “supine thoracic HVLA (high velocity low impact)” (also known as the Kirksville cruch) in a checkout this week, for a rib which had a posterior subluxation. I had asked some questions of the GTA Monday night during their tutoring hours as I have not had much luck with this technique (which can be used for the thoracic spine and for ribs).


My partner had this rib which was sore and “sticking out” more posteriorly, and also several thoracic vertebrae that were not in alignment, in the same region. Using the tips on hand position from the graduate assistant that I got on Monday, I did the technique and the ribs AND the 3 vertebrae all popped and shifted into alignment, and my partner said “ahhh. That feels so much better!” I didn’t use much force at all - it was more positioning than anything else.


Success!


Now back to learning about blood and lymph…


Kate

Woo! Rock it, Kate! I’m glad to know that the sense of relief people get overpowers the fear. I love following your diary, so thanks for the additional update :slight_smile:

I am so thankful I applied DO. The schools I interviewed at were much friendlier places to non-trads than he two md schools I inyerviewed. Since I started this process I have always felt more at home with the DO, so I would advocate for you to apply to them. As far as the bone cracking to Apply to DO schools you will most likely need a DO LOR so you will have to shadow one. I bet if you express your fears they will be happy to show you hvla and you can see for yourself what it Is like.

Thanks, BaileyPup! I’m definitely keeping them in mind.

  • ReallyThatAgain Said:
Sorry to be crazy on the posts lately.

I don't want to rule out osteopathic schools, especially because I think the principles/perspectives might be more aligned with my personal view of medicine.

But...

...I'm one of those people that cringes hard when others crack their fingers or neck or whatever. Does this mean that I should go ahead and focus on allopathic schools, or could the osteopathic techniques be something that I would adjust to?



Nope. I am totally the same way. I can hardly handle listening to other people pop their knuckles and stuff, but a little HVLA hasn't bothered me at all in medical school. In fact I adjusted a guy's neck this morning.

More than the sound of cracking it is just building up the confidence to really perform the techniques properly.

If I were you I wouldn't worry about it. You'll find that "cracking" is only a small part of OMT and a large part of osteopathic techniques don't involve any force at all. I love it.

Nice to hear from someone with a cracking aversion, haha. Thanks so much!