Bobby Lafferty DO
Board Certified Osteopathic Physician       ​417 Walnut Street, Green Cove Springs, Florida 32043

Osteopathic Manipulative Therapy = OMT

4 Tenants of Osteopathy

1. The person is a unit made of the body, mind
    and spirit.
2. The body is designed to be self-healing, self-    
    regulating and self-maintaining.
3. Structure and function are inter-related.
4. Rational treatment is based on understanding     the body unity, self-regulation, and the inter-    
    relationship of structure and function.

A Brief History of Osteopathy

Osteopathic medicine dates back to 1874 when Dr. A.T. Still MD left allopathic medicine and established his practice in the town of Kirksville Missouri.  He had been an apprenticed MD and had served as a Union soldier and medic in the war against slavery.  He had previously practiced traditional medicine, but lost faith in it after seing the mercury drugs, narcotics, alcohol and blood letting cause more disease than the original illness.  He lost three of his own children to meningitis and this pushed him toward seeking a systematic method for treating illness and working with the body's natural systems of healing and health.  He worked closely with Native Americans and with their help he learned how disease and musculoskeletal dysfunctions were inter-related.  In 1892 he opened the American School of Osteopathy in Kirksville and his first class included 5 women (a first for women's equality). His treatment and education were highly successful and sought after.  His philosophy and skills created huge successes that were reproducible by his students and graduates.  Osteopathy grew quickly and spread throughout the nation and then the world.  Today DO's are Fully licensed physicians in the United states and have full privileges in all 50 states.  DO's are also fully commissioned by the Military.  Today as Osteopathic doctors increasingly practice the same as MD's in the US, world-wide their unique approach to health and disease is under great demand.  Schools are opening around the world to keep the mission alive just as A.T. Still predicted nearly 140 years ago.  
There are many types of Osteopathic treatment.  Below are listed some of the more common and well known forms of treatment.
Cranio-Sacral Therapy
Cranio sacral technique is a complex system of treatment that is applied to the skull and sacrum with the purpose of releasing restrictions within the skull sutures, muscles, fascia, dura, lymphatics, and neurologic tissue.  The techniques are incredibly gentle and require time to perform.  It is one of the first techniques lost to the busy modern physician because it takes time and patience to do correctly.  The ventricles of the brain pump life-giving cerebrospinal fluid throughout the spinal cord and nerve roots and back to the brain.  This circulation can become impaired due to a myriad of reasons however this disruption of flow can cause serious neurologic, emotional, cognitive, psychiatric, and physical problems if not soon corrected.    The treatment positions in Craniosacral are also useful for various energetic interventions as well.  Most people really enjoy "cranial"  and often express a feeling of great peace and wellness after experiencing this type of treatment
Myofascial Release
Myofascial release is a technique of relaeasing trauma from the tissues.  Fascia is the body's connective tissue that holds all structures together.  It is the distortion of this membrane from trauma that leaves a residual palpable "image" of the trauma.   I often say that the body records it's experiences like memorex tape.  The dysfunction, once palpated by the Osteopathic physician, can be released through one of several types of treatment.  Indirect myofascial release is one of the most gentle type of hands on treatment.  It can be applied to anyone of any age with any condition.  It is often relied upon when the trauma is severe and the structures are very tender.  Indirect releases move the body into the direction of ease and allows an unwinding and deletion of the dysfunction.  Direct myofascial release takes the dysfunction in the direction it does not wish to go in order to return circulation and to restore motion by stretching of the tissues   
Muscle Energy

This type of dynamic myofascial release involves having the patient pushing against the doctors forces followed by a subsequent stretch of the restricted tissues.  This back and forth activation of muscles against resistance restores circulation and stretches fascia, muscles and ligaments to allow the body to settle back  into it's ideal position.  Interestingly this technique is known to dramatically increase strength and is often used for athletes from the high school to the olympic level to enhance performance.  l have personally worked with olympians at the olympic training center in Colorado Springs and have seen amazing results from those finely  tuned athletes
Counterstrain

Counterstrain technique is a complex system of manipulation positions designed to release "trigger points" which are small extremely tender points on the body that are "keystones" holding a dysfunction in place.  Those tight tender areas are unable to obtain oxygen and are powerless to relax or heal on their own.  The counter strain positions will allow circulation to return to these trigger points and in effect allow the dysfunction to delete itself from the inside out.  It is an amazing technique to see from the physicians standpoint but is often so relaxing to the patient that they fall asleep, enter a meditative state or become curious why they are being held in one position for a minute or two.
High Velocity Low Amplitude, Low velocity High Amplitude

Thrusting techniques are direct techniques that involve moving a tissue into a direction of restriction to enable a more complete range of motion.  It is this category of technique that the Osteopathic doctor is famous for because somtimes there is an audible "pop" that is heard when joints gap creating a vacuum that then makes a noise when the vacuum within the joint returns to its natural state.  The "pop" is not the theraputic end point but is a sure sign that there is movement within the "noisy" joint.  Newer lower speed techniques produce much less popping but are able to in many cases to create even more movement where there was restriction and dysfunction before