Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment Is a Hands-On Approach to Relieve Joint and Back Pain

Back and joint pain are common conditions that your primary-care provider might refer you to a specialist for. This may lead you to consider a technique called osteopathic manipulative treatment – or OMT. Millennium Physician Group Sports Medicine Physician Reginald Pinder, DO, explains this truly hands-on approach. 

“For pain involving muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones, we can use targeted home exercise programs, potentially ultrasound guided injections, or even osteopathic manipulation to help treat them without doing any sort of a surgical approach.” 

Osteopathic manipulative treatment – or OMT – is a hands-on technique that involves moving and manipulating your muscles and joints to help diagnose, prevent, and treat certain conditions. 

“Some patients think about it being similar to chiropractic work, but the difference is that the chiropractors really are using one style of OMT called high velocity, low amplitude thrusting,” explains Dr. Pinder. “As an osteopathic physician, we have various different treatments, some of which are high velocity, but most of which are actually a lot more gentle, which our patients tend to improve from better.” 

OMT has been shown to be a safe treatment for most people, and side effects are rare. Common conditions treated with OMT include lower back pain, joint pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome. 

“In all my patient interactions, not only do I want to treat the problem that’s at hand but then also talk about ways that we can prevent it going forward,” Dr. Pinder says. “I consider a patient a successful treatment when I’m able to return them back to doing those hobbies or activities that they enjoy, in a decreased amount of pain and also improved function.”