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The effect of osteoarticulation treatment on improving acute shoulder impairment


Picture of complex shoulder anatomy

This case study investigated the effectiveness of manual osteopathic therapy (MOT) for resolving a delayed acute-stage healing process after a shoulder injury. A summary is provided below. For those who are interested in reading the entire paper and bibliography, a link to download the paper is also provided after the summary.

Summary

Resolving functional impairment and symptom aggravation during the acute stage of healing (< 6 weeks from onset) is known to be important for reducing the chronicity of shoulder pain and dysfunction (Reilingh et al., 2008). This case study investigated the effectiveness of manual osteopathic therapy (MOT) for resolving a delayed acute-stage healing process after a minor shoulder injury.


The participant was a 79-year-old male who caught himself from a fall using his right hand 3 weeks ago. Although it felt

like a minor injury to him, the symptoms had gradually worsened since the onset, leading to the inability to raise his right arm more than 5 degrees in supine (lying on his back). Given his age and preceding health issues, dysfunction of other parts of the body, in addition to the recently injured shoulder, had been possibly hampering the healing process of the shoulder. For this reason, MOT was deemed an appropriate therapy for the client as it focuses on integrated balance of the whole body system rather than treating the shoulder as an isolated entity.


Two hypotheses were tested through a 90-minute single-session treatment. The first hypothesis was that MOT for the pelvis, hip, and spine would improve the range of motion (ROM) and pain symptoms specific to the affected shoulder. The second hypothesis was that MOT for improving glenohumeral (GH), acromioclavicular (AC), and sternoclavicular (SC) joints would improve the ROM and pain symptoms specific to the affected shoulder. Osteoarticulation was used as the main treatment method.


Osteoarticulation treatment for the pelvic girdle, hips, and spine was performed before the same treatment

for the shoulder complex was administered. The osteoarticulation for the shoulder complex focused on

improving the arthrokinematics of SC, AC, and GH joints. The primary outcome measures were active ROM of

shoulder flexion in supine and perceived pain level. These primary outcome measures were assessed

after every osteoarticulation treatment of different body regions.


The results supported both hypotheses by showing A) the improvement of ROM by 10 degrees and a reduction of pain level by 2 (on a 0-10 scale) after the treatment of the pelvic girdle. hips, and lumbar spine, B) further increase of ROM by 50 degrees after the treatment of cervical and thoracic spine, and C) further improvement of ROM by 100 degrees and further reduction

of pain level by 2 after the treatment of the shoulder complex.


These results indicated that MOT’s approach of integrating multi-systems of the body is effective in managing symptoms and improving the function of the shoulder during the acute stage of healing. Further study is warranted to examine the

compounding effect of treating other parts of the body before treating the shoulder.


Click the link below to see the entire paper and bibliography


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