Preventative Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) and the Nursing Home Patient

September 26, 2018 updated by: A.T. Still University of Health Sciences

Preventative OMT and the Nursing Home Patient

This pilot research study will investigate the possible benefit that elderly nursing home patients may receive from regular Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) care during the winter months. The study is based on the osteopathic philosophies that structure and function are interrelated and that the body has self-healing mechanisms. The body is expected to have optimized ability to heal itself "when all its parts are in place" (AT Still). This study is looking at subject population for whom their ability to take care of themselves is diminished by their underlying diseases. Based on the osteopathic philosophies, optimization of the nursing home patient's physical structure through osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) should enhance their body's homeostatic mechanisms. This study is assessing the validity of these philosophies by looking at the effect of OMT on the global health of these individuals.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This study will randomly assign 36 nursing home patients from two Kirksville nursing homes into three groups of twelve subjects: 1) treatment as usual (TAU) control group; 2) light touch (LT) group, and 3) standard OMT group.

This study will begin with rolling admission of volunteer nursing home patients starting in October 2009. Subjects in the LT and OMT group would receive focused musculoskeletal evaluations twice a month for 5 months (10 visits). The OMT group would also receive an OMT protocol each visit that would specifically address optimization of homeostatic mechanisms - balancing autonomic nervous system and improving lymphatic drainage- along with OMT that would specifically target somatic dysfunction found on that day's evaluation. The LT group subjects would receive a light touch protocol meant to simulate OMT. The TAU group will receive no intervention. The protocol period will end for all subjects by March 2010. All osteopathic examinations, assessments, and treatments will be performed at the participating nursing homes.

Throughout the protocol period, at the end of the winter (March 2010), and three months later (June 2010), retrospective chart reviews will be conducted on all subjects. All cause morbidity and mortality for all subjects will be assessed by monitoring their medications, health history changes, and hospitalizations.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

22

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Missouri
      • Kirksville, Missouri, United States, 63501
        • Kirksville Manor Care Center
      • Kirksville, Missouri, United States, 63501
        • Twin Pines Adult Care Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

65 years to 100 years (Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Resident of Participating Nursing Home
  • Life Expectancy of at Least 6 Months

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosis of Terminal Cancer
  • Diagnosis of Active Tuberculosis
  • Diagnosis of Metabolic Bone Disease or Condition That Would Place Patient at Risk for Pathological Fracture
  • Unable to Cooperate
  • Unable to Tolerate OMT
  • OMT is Contraindicated

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Treatment as Usual Control Group
Sham Comparator: Light Touch Group
Focused osteopathic musculoskeletal exam; contact ribs to simulate rib raising and paraspinal muscle inhibition; contact lower rib margin to simulate abdominal diaphragm release; palpate the four quadrants of the abdomen to simulate abdominal mesenteric/colon release; contact shoulders to simulate thoracic inlet release; contact suboccipital region to simulate thoracic inlet release.
Procedure: Light Touch
Focused osteopathic musculoskeletal exam; contact ribs to simulate rib raising and paraspinal muscle inhibition; contact lower rib margin to simulate abdominal diaphragm release; palpate the four quadrants of the abdomen to simulate abdominal mesenteric/colon release; contact shoulders to simulate thoracic inlet release; contact suboccipital region to simulate thoracic inlet release.
Other Names:
  • Sham manipulation
  • Placebo manipulation
Experimental: Standard OMT Group
Procedure: Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment
Focused osteopathic musculoskeletal exam; paraspinal muscle inhibition and/or soft tissue kneading or stretching; rib raising and or rib mobilization; abdominal diaphragm release technique; abdominal mesenteric/colon release; thoracic inlet release technique; hip flexion/extension range of motion; shoulder range of motion with pectoral traction; cervical paraspinal muscle inhibition and/or soft tissue kneading or stretching; suboccipital release technique; specific OMT of significant somatic dysfunction (variable).
Other Names:
  • OMT
  • Manipulation
  • OMM
  • Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Changes in subject health status: reviewing data regarding medication usage, co-morbidities, hospitalizations and activities of daily living.
Time Frame: Five Months
Five Months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

A.T. Still University of Health Sciences

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Karen T Snider, DO, A.T. Still University-Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

October 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2010

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 20, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 21, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

October 22, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 28, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 26, 2018

Last Verified

September 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 501-332

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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