“The medical profession today only deals with disease and not with health. Instead, osteopaths are trained to treat the entire patient and not just a disease or symptom.”
— Viola Frymann, D.O. (my greatest teacher and mentor)
I was fortunate to work with Viola Frymann, D.O., as her medical assistant for one year before starting medical school. She set a high bar for osteopathic excellence and dedication to patient care. I was transformed by that experience and remain forever grateful.
Osteopathy
What is osteopathic medicine?
Osteopathic medicine includes the full scope of modern medicine — prescription medicines, surgery, and technology to diagnose disease and evaluate injury — plus hands-on diagnosis and treatment through osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM). It emphasizes helping each person reach a high level of wellness through health promotion and disease prevention. (AACOM)
What is a D.O.?
Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.s) are fully trained and licensed physicians, able to practice the full scope of medicine. In addition to conventional medical training, D.O.s learn to use their hands to palpate tissue function and dysfunction, and to apply gentle manipulative techniques that help restore optimal motion and function.
Four principles of osteopathic medicine
- The body is a unit of body, mind, and spirit
- The body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, and health maintenance
- Structure and function are interrelated
- Rational treatment is based on those principles — unity, self-regulation, and the relationship of structure and function
Osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM)
OMM includes a range of techniques for joints, ligaments, muscles, tendons, and fascia (the connective tissue around muscles and organs) that may cause pain or interfere with function. When structure is restricted, function suffers — often with pain. Treatment aims to ease those restrictions so the body can work more freely.
Patients often notice deep relaxation, warmth or tingling, a sense of fluid motion, and pain relief — sometimes during treatment, sometimes afterward. OMM may also be called osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT).
Who may benefit?
Osteopathy treats the person, not only the disease label. The aim is to find and support health, structural integrity, and fluid continuity. Dr. Kyle sees babies, children, and adults — most often for concerns like those below.
Commonly treated conditions
Many people first seek care for pain — recent or long-standing — related to sports, car accidents, falls, surgery, birth, or other trauma. Others come hoping to rely less on surgery or medication.
Head and nervous system
- Migraines and headaches
- TMJ dysfunction
- Trigeminal neuralgia
- Vertigo and tinnitus
- Traumatic brain injury and post-concussion symptoms
Spine and joints
- Neck and back pain, including scoliosis, pinched nerves, and sciatica
- Tendinitis, carpal tunnel symptoms, rotator cuff strains / partial tears
- Rib strains and hip pain
- Pectus carinatum
Whole-person / chronic
- Fatigue
- Rheumatologic concerns including fibromyalgia
Pregnancy, lactation, and pediatrics
Many patients find improved function in pregnancy and while nursing. Osteopathy can be especially helpful for babies with:
- Latching / sucking difficulties
- Feeding challenges related to oral ties (tongue-tie / lip-tie), with the goal of supporting better function — which for some infants may reduce the need for immediate surgical release
- Torticollis and plagiocephaly
- Reflux and colic
- Recurrent ear concerns
- Difficult or traumatic births
Autonomic / visceral-related function
By supporting structure and regulation, care may also help with:
- Breathing concerns (including asthma)
- Digestive symptoms (including reflux and IBS)
- Poor sleep
Because osteopathy supports the body’s capacity to self-regulate, it can be useful in many situations — not only when the presenting complaint is musculoskeletal.
Common treatment approaches
- Osteopathy in the cranial field — uses the inherent motion of the cranial and neurological system in treating the whole body
- Biodynamic approach — a way of working within osteopathy in the cranial field (associated with James Jealous, D.O.) that attunes to the body’s inherent ordering forces and developmental/embryologic patterns of health. Treatment is typically very quiet and gentle, listening for and supporting the patient’s own healing process rather than imposing force from outside
- Muscle energy — uses a gentle contraction / relaxation cycle to improve motion
- Balanced ligamentous tension — balances tension around ligaments or joints until ease returns
- Myofascial release — eases restrictions in muscle and fascia
- Still technique — a method attributed to A.T. Still and reintroduced in modern teaching by Richard Van Buskirk, D.O. The restricted area is first placed in a position of ease, a gentle compression (or sometimes distraction) is added, then the tissues are carried smoothly toward and through the restriction. It is an “indirect then direct” approach — often comfortable, and a pop is possible but not required
- Fulford technique (percussion vibrator) — an osteopathic approach developed by Robert Fulford, D.O., using a gentle mechanical percussion/vibration tool as an extension of the physician’s hands. Rhythmic vibration is applied to help ease fascial and other tissue restrictions and support freer motion and vitality throughout the body; it is guided by palpation, not a generic massage-gun treatment
- Strain / counterstrain — positions of comfort held briefly at tender points to reduce tenderness
- Facilitated positional release — places tissues at ease, then uses gentle compression or traction
- HVLA (high-velocity, low-amplitude) — a quick, short thrust through a restricted joint; the familiar “pop” technique when appropriate
Treatment is individualized. Not every visit uses every method.
Patient reflection
“My personal experience with OMT is that it has relieved pain and discomfort from decades-old injuries and helped me reach levels of activity I had thought were ‘past’ for me. I routinely walk 8–12 miles, can hike like I did when I was a teenager, and have regained amazing flexibility (in way more than the physical sense…). Thank you Dr. Kyle, for providing a level of care that goes so far beyond ‘healthcare’ that it can much more accurately be called ‘life care’—and for extending that care to all life. As I said in my letter: ‘My doctor is not only an excellent, intuitive physician; he is a very important teacher, mentor, and friend.’”
— N.H.
“Osteopathy is a science with possibilities as great as the magnitude of the heavens. It is a science dealing with the natural forces of the body. We work as osteopaths with the traditional principle in mind that the tendency in the patient’s body is always toward the normal. There is much to discover in the science of osteopathy by working with the forces within that manifest the healing processes. These forces within the patient are greater than any blind force that can safely be brought to bear from without.”
— William Garner Sutherland, D.O., D.Sc. (hon.)
To schedule: (541) 706-9985