How does osteopathy treat asthma

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Immediate effects of osteopathic manipulative treatment in elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Effects of rib raising on the autonomic nervous system: a pilot study using noninvasive biomarkers. Determining a minimal important change in a disease-specific Quality of Life Questionnaire.

J Clin Epidemiol. National Library of Medicine U. National Institutes of Health U. Department of Health and Human Services. The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Procedure: Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment. Study Type :. Observational [Patient Registry]. Actual Enrollment :. Actual Study Start Date :. Actual Primary Completion Date :. Actual Study Completion Date :. Participants Participants were adults with a diagnosis of asthma, treated using a standardized Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment protocol.

Some may become very quiet or subdued as they concentrate on their breathing, while others may be obviously distressed and breathless, with a pronounced wheeze. Allergic asthma — symptoms are usually the result of inhaling or consuming some kind of external substance such as pollen, dust mites, mould, wheat or dairy produce. Non-allergic asthma — can be triggered by a range of different factors, including physical exertion, some medications, fatigue, stress or exposure to environments which are cold and damp.

The osteopath will use a variety of manual techniques to achieve the above. Including, soft tissue stretching and massage, along with articulation and mobilisation of the joints. Other areas of management include the formulation of an individual exercise program, with emphasis on breathing exercises and the avoidance of aggravating factors. Unsurprisingly he told me that the claims like these were "not backed by any evidence that osteopathy can treat asthma," noting that "there hasn't been adequate research to say either way.

His comments are backed up by a comprehensive meta-study conducted by the Cochrane collaboration , which noted that the few adequate trials to have taken place were poorly reported or too small to draw conclusions from, and concluded that "there is insufficient evidence to support or refute the use of manual therapy for patients with asthma. In any case, using someone's arm as a lever to pump irritants out of their chest isn't the most plausible treatment ever devised.

An asthma sufferer put it more colourfully on Twitter : "is having asthma enough expertise to know that pumping mucus out of my lungs in a Looney Tunes style fashion will not work? The Advertising Standards Authority's code also has something to say about claims like these. The ASA sensibly lists asthma among conditions for which "suitably qualified medical advice should be sought" , and told me:. To date we have not seen that evidence. The same goes for pneumonia, which is also mentioned in the piece with a reference to 'one study' :.

In the development of pneumonia, where the lungs end up secreting more fluid than they can clear, we use a similar approach.