Effect of Osteopathic Manipulation on Circulating Immune Markers

May 28, 2026 updated by: Rebekah Morrow, Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine

A Molecular Approach to Examining the Immune Stimulatory Impact of Lymphatic Pump Technique in Healthy Patients; A Pilot Study

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) changes levels of immune markers in healthy volunteers. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does OMT change numbers of white blood cells or antibodies? Does OMT change levels of cytokines?

Researchers will compare volunteers treated with OMT to volunteers undergoing sham treatment to see if OMT changes levels of immune markers.

Participants will:

  • complete a survey about their medical history to determine if they are healthy enough for OMT
  • have blood drawn
  • undergo either sham treatment or OMT
  • have blood drawn 30 minutes after treatment

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

33

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
    • Louisiana
      • Monroe, Louisiana, United States, 71203
        • Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • subjects are healthy; have independently read, understood, and without coercion signed the consent form; agree to allow for samples to be taken; agree to fill out all the documentation and surveys; and identifies as any race(s), ethnicity(ies), and/or gender(s)

Exclusion Criteria:

  • subjects present at initial visit with a fever greater than 100.5 °F; have participated in a clinical trial within the last 6 months; work night shifts; who are immunocompromised including: HIV+, have had cancers, or are pregnant or nursing; have current bone fractures of the head and neck; history of osteoporosis, acute hepatitis, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, trauma to the liver or spleen, surgery in the past 6 months or necrotizing fasciitis. Other relative contraindications to receiving OMT include doderate to severe cardiac conditions, moderate to severe congestive heart failure, infectious mononucleosis, chronic abscesses or osteomyelitis, coagulopathies or patients on anticoagulants, COPD, and acute indurated lymph node

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: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Sham Comparator: Sham Treatment
Other: Sham Comparator
Light touch
Experimental: Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT)
Other: Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT)
Lymphatic Pump Techniques

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Changes in Circulating Immune Markers
Time Frame: within 30 minutes of treatment
within 30 minutes of treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine

Collaborators

American Osteopathic Association

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 (Actual)

January 10, 2025

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 17, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

June 17, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 28, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 28, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 3, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 3, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 28, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2153344-1
  • 24081882 (Other Grant/Funding Number: American Osteopathic Association)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

IPD sharing was not part of patients informed consent

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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