Osteopathic Mobilization Treatment
What is Osteopathic Mobilization Treatment?
Osteopathic mobilization treatment is a treatment method in which an osteopathic doctor manipulates both soft tissue and joints to improve your functional mobility and reduce your pain.
Osteopathic mobilization can be used on any part throughout the body and is also used to treat a wide variety of systemic conditions.
There are many different techniques of mobilization that your skilled practitioner may adapt to treat your specific needs.
How is Osteopathic Mobilization Treatment Done?
The way that osteopathic mobilization treatment is done will vary both based on your provider’s preferred mobilization techniques and based on the body part.
Doctors of Osteopathy (otherwise known as DO’s) are trained in how to manipulate both soft tissues like muscles and ligaments as well as joints to help alleviate pain and eliminate tissue restrictions.
The treatment will first start with a thorough assessment using palpation and a movement screen of the injured or painful area.
Depending on the exact pathology involved, your provider will then determine whether it makes more sense to manipulate the soft tissue or the joints themselves or some combination of the two.
Sometimes osteopathic mobilization treatment will look like sustained stretching or myofascial release of soft tissues to help reduce irritation in that specific area.
Other times and osteopathic mobilization treatment may look more like a direct manipulation of the spine or a joint in an extremity.
In some cases of chronic pain, your provider may implement an osteopathic mobilization technique called craniosacral therapy that involves addressing your pain through very gentle tissue manipulation at your neck or sacrum.
Depending on the severity and duration of your pain, you may need multiple osteopathic mobilization treatments or just one treatment to help eliminate your pain and restore your overall function.
As your injury or pain improves, your provider may switch to utilizing different techniques to achieve the desired outcome and further improve your healing response.
What is the aim of Osteopathic Mobilization Treatment?
The aim of osteopathic mobilization treatment will depend primary on the issue the provider is addressing.
In the case of an irritated tissue, your provider may be using mobilization techniques directed at reducing inflammation.
In other cases, the aim of treatment is to improve tissue and joint mobility to help restore functional biomechanics to the injured or painful area.
Your provider may also utilize techniques directed solely at reducing your overall pain response to improve your overall quality of life and reduce dependence on pharmaceuticals.
Studies have also found that osteopathic mobilization treatments can be helpful for addressing psychological issues through enhancing your nervous system’s relaxation response.
Benefits of Osteopathic Mobilization Treatment
- Improve soft tissue mobility and joint mobility
- Increased circulation to painful or injured tissues
- Reduce the inflammatory response in an injured or painful tissue
- Decrease acute or chronic pain
- Enhanced relaxation of your nervous system
- Restore functional mobility
- Reduction of migraine systems
- Reduced fatigue response
- Decreased muscular soreness
- Decreased neuropathic pain in the limbs
- Enhanced function of the immune system
