Healthnotes Newswire —Patients get back on their feet sooner following surgery to the knee or hip if given osteopathic manipulation, according to a study published in the current issue of Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.¹

Thirty-eight patients assigned to osteopathic manipulation on the second through the fifth days following surgery were able to climb stairs an average of 20% sooner than 38 others who had similar surgeries but did not receive such treatment (4.3 days vs. 5.4 days). According to the study, on the third day following surgery, the patients receiving manipulation walked an average of 43% farther than those who were not treated. Further investigation by Healthnotes Newswire prompted the study’s principal investigator to amend the finding to a significantly higher 57%. Both of these findings were statistically significant. Manipulation-treated patients also needed less pain medication than untreated patients, though this difference was not statistically significant. The researchers who evaluated stair-climbing and walking abilities and pain-medication use were not told which patients were receiving manipulation therapy.

In most ways, modern osteopathy is barely distinguishable from conventional medicine. However, when osteopathic medicine began over a century ago, its focus was a manipulation-based treatment that was unrelated to conventional medicine. Although “old-fashioned” osteopathy focuses on the use of physical manipulation, the nature of these manipulations is quite distinct from chiropractic treatments. Through the years, some osteopathic physicians have continued to use osteopathic manipulation in addition to using drugs and surgery. Today the practice of including osteopathic manipulation is once again becoming more popular. Findings from the current study suggest that osteopathic manipulation speeds recovery in patients who have just had surgery to the knee or hip.