Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) was developed at the end of the 19th century. At that time, pneumonia, tuberculosis, diarrhea, and diphtheria were considered to be the leading causes of death, and life expectancy was approximately 40 years.
1,2 Standard treatments for infectious diseases were of dubious value. For example, drugs used for pneumonia included strychnine, digitalis, belladonna, ergot, and other cardiac tonics.
3 It was in this environment that Andrew Taylor Still, MD, DO, developed OMT to treat the common health problems of the day. This new approach held great appeal because it offered a way to treat infections by enhancing host immunity through what was known about anatomy and physiology. By contrast, rational antimicrobial drug therapy–based physiology and clinical science was still in its infancy. Still's innovations inspired individuals such as M.A. Lane, a distinguished researcher and professor of pathology at the American School of Osteopathy, to become evangelistic proponents of the reform movement of osteopathy.
4 While the larger biomedical community was searching for magic bullets to treat pathogens, proponents of osteopathic medicine were developing manual treatment strategies to help the body heal itself.
1,5 Techniques were developed to mobilize joints and free obstructions to nerves and circulatory vessels.
4 In the 1920s, lymphatic and splenic pump techniques were developed specifically for the treatment of infectious diseases.
6-8 The evidence for OMT's efficacy for infectious diseases, however, remained largely anecdotal. As proven, safe and effective antimicrobial agents became widely available and the use of OMT for infectious diseases declined. Today, OMT is primarily used for musculoskeletal problems with only a minority of osteopathic physicians reporting they use or plan to use OMT for nonmusculoskeletal problems.
9,10 In this era of effective antimicrobial pharmacologic agents, the usefulness of OMT to treat infectious diseases remains an open question. The question remains open because the topic remains largely unexplored from both mechanistic and clinical efficacy perspectives.