In the current study, the patients were postoperative in 18% of the consultations. Several hospital-based clinical trials have evaluated the use of OMT in the care of the postoperative patient. Goldstein et al
27 demonstrated that patients receiving an OMT protocol after elective total abdominal hysterectomy used less morphine than those in the group receiving a postoperative sham protocol treatment during the first 24 hours (
P=.02) and 25 to 48 hours after the operation (
P=.01). Sleszynski et al
10 found no difference in the incidence of postoperative atelectasis status after cholecystectomy, but patients who were treated with the thoracic lymphatic pump technique had an earlier recovery and quicker return to preoperative respiratory values for forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume than patients who were treated with incentive spirometry. Two retrospective studies have evaluated the effect of OMT on postoperative ileus after a variety of surgical procedures. Herman
28 found that patients routinely receiving OMT postoperatively had an extremely low incidence (0.3%) of postoperative adynamic ileus, whereas patients not receiving OMT had a higher incidence (7.6%). Crow and Gorodinsky
29 found that patients who received OMT after developing a postoperative ileus had an average LOS that was 2.7 days shorter than those who did not receive OMT. In a more recent randomized study, Le Blanc-Louvry et al
30 found that individuals receiving postoperative abdominal wall massage after a colectomy had less pain (
P<.001), had less analgesic use (
P<.05), and passed gas sooner (
P<.01) than those individuals who did not receive abdominal massage. O-Yurvati et al
8 demonstrated that OMT had a beneficial effect on the recovery of patients after coronary artery bypass graft surgery as indicated by changes in cardiac function and perfusion with significant differences for mixed venous oxygen saturation (
P⩽.005) and cardiac index (
P⩽.02). A prospective study investigating the use of OMT in the postoperative care of patients undergoing elective knee or hip arthroplasty found that compared with patients not receiving OMT, those patients receiving OMT negotiated stairs 20% earlier (
P=.006) and ambulated farther during the first 4 postoperative days (
P=.008). The OMT group also required less analgesia and had shorter hospital stays, but the differences were not statistically significant.
31 Pomykala et al
32 surveyed 160 medical, postoperative, and obstetric patients who had OMM consultations and found that more than 75% of patients reported that OMT decreased stress and anxiety, improved recovery, and improved overall comfort during their hospital stay. Closer review of the postoperative cases included in the current study could identify specific types of postoperative cases to investigate in future retrospective and prospective studies.