Osteopathic Manipulation: Helping you live a balanced, pain-free life

By: Dr. Robert Cromley

My approach to patient care is simple: to help you live a long, healthy, and happy life. As a Board-Certified Family Medicine physician, my practice focuses on outpatient management of adults with multiple and complex medical conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and congestive heart failure as well as health promotion, weight loss and smoking cessation.

I am also trained in osteopathic medicine, where I utilize a treatment method called Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) to manage patients with musculoskeletal issues.

What is OMM?

OMM is used to treat mechanical pain (muscle, tendon, or bone pain) and a wide range of health issues by applying gentle pressure to manipulate muscles, soft tissue and fascia. This treatment helps to restore your body’s optimal function and reduce pain.

There is a wide variety of treatments that fall under OMM. However, during an OMM treatment with me, patients are generally treated while lying on their back. The techniques we can use in OMM depend on the specific issues a patient is experiencing. Because I see a lot of patients who are older or have complicated pain issues, my approach is usually careful and gentle to avoid causing pain. If at any point in your treatment you feel pain or discomfort, you should let me know.

Everyone responds to OMM differently, but you may feel sore for a day or two after. Some people feel tired after treatment while others feel energized. Regardless of how you’re feeling immediately after, it’s important to drink plenty of water, go for a short walk, and take it easy avoiding rigorous physical activity.

Who can benefit from OMM?

OMM can treat a variety of medical conditions that affect several systems in the body. However, I primarily utilize it to help patients manage musculoskeletal issues. These include:

• Migraines and tension headaches
• Neck stiffness
• Neck pain
• Back pain
• Muscle spasms
• Sciatica
• Ankle sprains
• Pelvic pain
• Postpartum pain
• As well as chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia

An estimated 50 million Americans suffer from chronic back pain, and it is one of the leading reasons patients seek medical care. The most common causes of back pain, which are often treatable, include poor posture, excessive weight, poor workstation set up, lack of exercise and limited flexibility.

Many of my patients tell me they would prefer to not take medications for pain when possible. Osteopathic manipulation is one modality which has proven to be effective in helping patients heal with less or no medicine.