Mar 28, 2024  
2022-23 ATSU University Catalog 
    
2022-23 ATSU University Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

OSPP 6100 - Osteopathic Principles and Practice III


4.5 credit hours

The year two courses in Osteopathic Principles & Practice (OPP) build upon the concepts taught in the year 1 and include additional clinical application. Coursework is organized by system and clinical presentations emphasize the clinical application of osteopathic manipulative medicine in the primary care setting. The courses are delivered through both online curriculum materials and live instruction by OPP faculty at each community campus. Osteopathic screening, palpatory diagnosis, and treatment in all body regions are presented and reinforced. Emphasis is placed on the expansion of palpatory skills to diagnose and treat dysfunction of the body framework system: skeletal, arthrodial, and myofascial structures, and their related vascular, lymphatic, and neural elements. Additional OMT treatment types are introduced, including The Still Technique and Facilitated Positional Release. Clinical cases with OPP applications are discussed, and practice in performance and documentation of OMT are included. The Spring semester course concludes with a final review block, covering topics from years 1 and 2.  Relevant functional anatomy will be included throughout the year and represented in course written examinations.  

The Osteopathic Principles and Practice-III course spans the fall semester of the second year.  The course teaches the philosophy of osteopathic medicine, the process of treatment design and implementation for varying clinical presentations and the manual skills necessary for accurate diagnosis and efficacious treatment with osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT).

Osteopathic Principles and Practice-IV begins January and runs through April of second year.  The course is designed to impart both the philosophy of osteopathic medicine and the palpatory skills required to perform osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT).

Specifically, what this means is that for every clinical presentation the anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology involved in that clinical entity, are the basis of a rational treatment plan. Manual skills are used for diagnosis, and treatment, such that the pathophysiology of disease is reversed, to the extent possible, and self- regulatory mechanisms resume function at a maximum. In this process, every treatment plan is individualized to a specific patient and situation, and the Thinking Osteopathic Physician, based on an understanding of the principles learned, can apply the safest, most efficacious modalities to ensure the best clinical outcome possible.  This integrated thought process and the use of our hands for diagnosis and treatment is what distinguishes Osteopathic Physicians among medical professionals. It is this heritage that is being expanded in year II.  As clinical medical knowledge is expanded the manual and diagnostic skills are better utilized in a more meaningful fashion and osteopathic treatments for various common clinical scenarios emerge.  Course content conveys the rationale and research, where applicable, relevant to an osteopathic approach to clinical presentations and systems which constitutes the ATSU-SOMA medical curriculum.  Furthermore, the course content also conveys the anatomic and physiological concepts underlying the OMT modalities presented, while the laboratory component, particularly, develops skills in OMT.