Chronic Inflammatory Disease and Osteopathy: A Systematic Review

Abstract

BackgroundChronic inflammatory diseases (CID) are globally highly prevalent and characterized by severe pathological medical conditions. Several trials were conducted aiming at measuring the effects of manipulative therapies on patients affected by CID. The purpose of this review was to explore the extent to which osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) can be benefi-cial in medical conditions also classified as CID.MethodsThis review included any type of experimental study which enrolled sub-jects with CID comparing OMT with any type of control procedure. The search was conducted on eight databases in January 2014 using a pragmatic literature search approach. Two independent re-viewers conducted study selection and data extraction for each study. The risk of bias was evaluated according to the Cochrane methods. Heterogeneity was assessed and meta-analysis performed where possible.Results10 studies met the inclusion criteria for this review enrolling 386 subjects. The search identified six RCTs, one laboratory study, one cross-over pilot studies, one observation-al study and one case control pilot study. Results suggest a potential effect of osteopathic medicine on patients with medical pathologies associated with CID (in particular Chronic Obstructive Pul-monary Disease (COPD), Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Asthma and Peripheral Arterial Disease) com-pared to no treatment or sham therapy although data remain elusive. Moreover one study showed possible effects on arthritis rat model. Meta-analysis was performed for COPD studies only show-ing no effect of any type of OMT applied versus control. No major side effects were reported by those receiving OMT.ConclusionThe present systematic review showed inconsistent data on the effect of OMT in the treatment of medical conditions potentially associated with CID, however the OMT appears to be a safe approach. Further more robust trials are needed to determine the direction and magnitude of the effect of OMT and to generalize favorable results.

Effect of manual approaches with osteopathic modality on brain correlates of interoception: an fMRI study

“…Osteopathy is a nonpharmacological, non-invasive manual medicine, regarded by some as Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). A series of manual techniques are applied by osteopathic therapists to improve bodily function altered by any somatic (body framework) dysfunction (ICD-10 code: M99.0-99.9) 60 . In the osteopathic practice two are the essential elements: a structural evaluation for diagnosis and a pool of different manipulative techniques for the treatment.…”

The risk associated with spinal manipulation: an overview of reviews

“…Some of these reviews further specified SMT as cervical, thoracic or lumbar SMT (21 reviews [46, 47, 49, 54, 57, 65, 91, 96, 103, 105, 114, 115, 119, 121, 123, 125–127, 134, 136, 150]). Other reviews did not further specify than ‘manipulation’ (10 reviews [36, 66, 70–73, 79, 93, 101, 107]), ‘osteopathic manipulative treatment/therapy’ (8 reviews [38, 52, 56, 64, 81, 82, 116, 139]), and ‘chiropractic care/interventions’ (5 reviews [67, 98–100, 137]).…”

Lymphatic Pump Manipulation in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

“…Furthermore, some patients complained of post-treatment chest pain. Most recently, in 2015, a systematic review highlighted the lack of positive effects of manual treatment upon respiratory function in the mediastinum (FEV1, forced vital capacity, residual volume) or upon the lymphatic system [8].…”

“…However, the literature relating to this technique is contradictory [7]. We do know that lymphatic flow is facilitated by the movement of the diaphragm and contraction of the heart, not only at the mediastinal level but also at the systemic level [8][9]. Lymphatic drainage is also regulated by intrinsic stimuli, such as the contraction of lymphatic muscle cells (LMCs) [10][11].…”