Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment

Osteopathic manipulative treatment is the central hands-on practice of osteopathy, a system of alternative medicine that emphasizes the physical manipulation of a patient's muscles, bones, joints and connective tissue. Practitioners use manual techniques of palpation and manipulation to identify and address what they call somatic dysfunction, working from the idea that structural problems in the body interfere with its normal function and that manipulation can remove that interference and allow the body's own healing processes to work. Osteopathy as a whole is regarded by mainstream science as a pseudoscientific practice, and some of the techniques associated with it, such as craniosacral therapy, have been specifically described as lacking therapeutic value.