Have you ever heard of osteopathic manipulation?  I first learned of it quite by accident in my late twenties.  I went in for a routine physical, and the flight surgeon who was conducting the physical had me get up on her table when I described my headaches that would go on and on for five days at a time.  She held my head in her hands and told me my bones weren’t moving.  “My bones are supposed to move?”  Oh, yes.

With a few sessions of manipulation that left me feeling as if i could turn my head 360 degrees, I was sold on the value of osteopathic manipulation.  Along with the manipulations, she gave me a couple of simple exercises to do to keep my head and neck loose.  Since then, I’ve rarely had a headache.

My arthritis has been bothering me lately.  I’ve also been bothered by increasing neck, lower back, and hip discomfort.  My left knee feels … funny.  I also have carpal tunnel syndrome, which apparently also benefits from osteopathic manipulation.

This has prompted me to search the doctors on staff at my clinic to see if there are any DOs who do manipulation.  There appears to be one, so I’m going to investigate the opportunity for a referral to see if he believes there’s anything he can do for the things that are vexing me.  They feel like at least some of them would respond well to manipulation.

I prefer the idea of an osteopath because of their training to consider the full body system.  They can prescribe medicine if that’s the most appropriate treatment in addition to manipulations or other solutions.  On the other hand, if getting the body into alignment allows it to heal itself, I really like that idea.

If you have a nagging problem and hadn’t heard about what osteopathic manipulation might be able to do for you, it may be worth learning more about.