Osteopathic manual medicine views the body as a functional unit, meaning that the structures of the body and their functions are interrelated. This interrelation leads osteopathic manual practitioners to believe that imbalances in one structure of the body contribute to, or can be reliably related to any disease process occurring in the body. When soft tissues and structures in the body are not in a neutral position, compression, tension and torsional forces are placed through all layers of the body from the skin through to the bone. These forces affect vital yet delicate structures like nerves, arteries, veins an lymphatic vessels. When the function of these fundamental structures is compromised, the typical symptoms experienced are pain, discomfort, restriction of movement and/or any additional abnormal physical signs. Osteopathic Manual Therapy involves the assessment of the whole body and focuses on assessing the body's structure through skilled palpation and motion testing. Through treatment, soft tissue techniques are applied to alleviate lesions (restriction) in any of the tissue layers. The goal of treatment is to alleviate restrictions through all layers to allow the flow of all vessels and conduction of all nerves to be restored, so that proper nutrition is delivered to the tissues and drainage of toxins is maintained. When alleviating restrictions, the intent is to promote a more neutral position of structures, which allows the body to function optimally. When this is achieved, the body's self-regulating and self-protecting mechanisms can maintain homeostasis with less stress, improving the overall health of the person. This manual therapy can be used to treat an array of medical conditions like reduction of stress and headache frequency/intensity, increase in range of motion and decrease in associated pain, improve immune function and autoimmune disease symptoms, and also help with sleep quality.
