Scared by Recent news about Vioxx and similar pain medications? Ask your physician about osteopathic manipulation treatment (OMT).

Source: www.immunesupport.com/library/ showarticle.cfm/ID/6220/e/1/T/CFIDS_FM/

Warnings about three common pain relievers prompt interest in nontraditional treatments.

Gwenn Herman knows chronic pain -- the regular backaches, the stiffness of her neck after her 1995 car accident, the pain that didn't respond, or responded inconsistently, to prescription and nonprescription painkillers.

That's why she learned, long before the recent rash of safety alerts about three commonly used pain medications, to explore alternative treatments such OMT. That view is likely to find more adherents following reports linking the prescription pain drugs Vioxx and Celebrex and, more recently, the popular over-the-counter painkiller Aleve (naproxen) to potentially life-threatening side effects.

Experts advise patients not to stop pain medications without consulting their doctor. The drugs now subject to so much publicity may remain the best choices for some patients. Nonetheless, the reports have focused more attention on alternative pain relief.

Bringing Osteopathic manipulation into mainstream treatment of pain.

Osteopathic manipulation -- Manipulation of the joints restores the normal range of motion of a particular joint and can restore the normal blood flow, said Martin Levine, a member of the board of trustees for the American Osteopathic Association. Growing evidence suggests that osteopathic manipulation may ease low back pain and be useful for a variety of other conditions, including depression, fibromyalgia, menstrual pain and neck pain.

To find a DO visit: http://www.osteopathic.org/index.cfm?PageID=findado_main


D.O.s bring something extra to medicine.

D.O.s comprise a separate, yet equal branch of American medical care. Together, D.O.s and M.D.s enhance the state of care available in America. It is, however, the ways that D.O.s and M.D.s are different that bring an extra dimension to your family's health care.

• Osteopathic medical schools emphasize training students to be primary care physicians.
• D.O.s practice a "whole person" approach to medicine. Instead of just treating specific symptoms or illnesses, they regard your body as integrated whole.
• Osteopathic physicians focus on preventive health care.
• D.O.s receive extra training in the musculoskeletal system -- your body’s interconnected system of nerves, muscles and bones that make up two-thirds of its body mass. This training provides osteopathic physicians with a better understanding of the ways that an injury or illness in one part of your body can affect another.
• Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is incorporated in the training and practice of osteopathic physicians. With OMT, osteopathic physicians use their hands to diagnose injury and illness and to encourage your body’s natural tendency toward good health. By combining all available medical procedures with OMT, D.O.s offer their patients the most comprehensive care available in medicine today.