Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment in Surgical Care

Abstract

Background.A growing trend in surgical care is the investigation and incorporation of multimodal interventions into standardized programs. Additionally, manual therapies such as osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) are being used with patients in surgical care. Yet the scientific dialogue and the use of OMT in surgical care are currently insubstantial.Objective.The aim of this study was to present an overview of published research articles within the subject field of OMT in surgical care.Method.Summative review of peer-reviewed research articles published in osteopathic journals during the period 1990 to 2017. In total, 10 articles were identified.Result.Previous research has been conducted within the areas of abdominal, thoracic, gynecological, and/or orthopedic surgery with measured outcomes such as pain, analgesia consumption, length of hospital stay, and range of motion. Heterogeneity was identified in usage of osteopathic techniques, treatment duration, and occurrence, as well as in the treating osteopath’s experience.Conclusion.Despite the small number of research articles within this field, both positive measured effects as well as the absence of such effects were identified. Overall, there was a heterogeneity concerning surgical contexts, diagnoses, signs and symptoms, as well as surgical phases in current interprofessional osteopathic publications. In this era of multimodal surgical care, we argue that there is an urgent need to evaluate OMT in this context of care and with a proper research approach.

Il trattamento osteopatico nel paziente pediatrico cardiochirurgico: uno studio osservazionale retrospettivo

“…Una revisione tradizionale di articoli di ricerca pubblicati riguardo l'utilizzo del trattamento osteopatico in campo chirurgico, nel periodo 1990-2017, identifica solamente 10 articoli, da cui emergono sia benefici che nessun effetto nell'uso di queste tecniche manipolative. 11 Per ciò che riguarda in generale l'ambito della chirurgia cardiaca, è stato dimostrato che la co-terapia osteopatica associata alle cure di base, è in grado di ridurre il dolore e migliorare il recupero funzionale nei pazienti sottoposti a interventi di cardiochirurgia con sternotomia. 12 Un altro studio mostra come l'approccio della tecnica osteopatica di tipo fasciale, che si concentra in particolare sulla manipolazione del tessuto connettivo denso, riduca il dolore toracico presente in un paziente operato di trapianto al cuore.…”

Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment During Post-operative Recovery: A Scoping Review

“…Surgical procedures can also cause physiologic derangements and anatomic or postural changes as compensatory mechanisms to address the new state the body is in [5]. Some of the causes of post-operative pain include a variety of factors: incisional pain, nerve injury or entrapment, pneumoperitoneum, intraoperative positioning, tissue manipulation, and metabolic changes, among others [6].…”

“…It is estimated that approximately 312 million surgical operations are performed worldwide each year [7]. With regards to post-operative recovery, osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT) is the therapy utilized to address found somatic dysfunctions [6]. It may be utilized to help promote the self-healing of a patient to reduce pain, minimize the usage of analgesics, increase limited range of motion, increase blood flow and lymphatic circulation, and overall return the patient to homeostasis [1][2][3]8].…”