Gathering place for osteopaths
Achoooo!!! - an osteopathic approach to the common cold.
It is that time of the year when many of us have patients presenting at our clinics with the common cold. Although they may arrive for a different matter, with the patient's permission, it is a chance for the osteopath to treat some of the less-known conditions that osteopathy addresses.
At the back of the throat sits a ring of lymphoid tissue – the pharynx, the adenoids and the tonsils. They serve as the first line of defense against infections of the mouth and throat. The main virus that causes the common cold is the rhinovirus.
On examining the patient with a cold, the osteopath may find that the posterior pharyngeal muscles are inflamed, the hyoid bone is restricted, the cervical lymph nodes are enlarged, cervical vertebrae are restricted and there is hypertonic cervical-erector-spinae.
The aim of osteopathic treatment is two-fold:
a) To improve fluid drainage to and from the throat.
b) To boost the immune system.
In conjunction with a general osteopathic treatment, the osteopath should focus on a number of relevant areas. The clavicle and first rib, between which lie the left and right thoracic ducts, must move freely so that drainage from the head and neck is not restricted. The same applies to the thoracic outlet. The diaphragm is also important in intrathoracic pressure and fluid dynamics. Furthermore the osteopath should address sternocleidomastoid (SCM) making sure that it is relaxed and not restricting sound fluid drainage from the throat by either local hypertonia or pinching the thoracic ducts between clavicle and first rib.
To boost the immune system the osteopath can apply the lymphatic, splenic and pedal pump.
Local soft tissue work to SCM and articulation with gentle muscle-energy to the pharangeal muscle can be executed in the following way:
With the patient lying supine, the osteopath stands to the side of the patient and clasps the hyoid between two fingers (it is worth explaining to the patient the procedure in advance). Gently, the osteopath articulates the hyoid bone laterally and asks the patient to swallow. The osteopath will feel a gentle tension increase and relaxation around the hyoid and this produces an effective, accurate stretch to the surrounding musculature.
Gentle inhibition can be applied to the sub-occipital muscles and cervical-erector-spinae.
The osteopath can finish with some gentle effleurage around the ears, eyes nose and throat.
The order in which these techniques are used is up for debate but there is some logic in beginning with the peripheral areas first to create pools for fluid to drain into.
The osteopath may wish to advise the patient to rest and to reduce intake of complex and artificial foods, sticking mainly to boiled vegetables in the first 24 hours.
In conclusion, the osteopath applies skilled hands to knowledge of anatomy and physiology, creating an optimum environment for the body to combat the virus, bringing symptomatic relief, reducing pain and hopefully speeding the recovery.
www.osteopathy4osteopaths.blogspot.com
Tags: cold, common, pharyngitis
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Stephen McDermott on -
Hi Danny,
What results have you had from using these techniques??
I have been using the techniques that were used to treat patients during the 1918-19 flu epidemic, for the last few weeks and have had some good results.............
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Permalink Reply by Dick Wyatt on -
Hi Danny,
I was treated for a cold, much as you describe during my final days at the BSO. The effects and outcome, although welcome for some ten minutes post-ttt were, sadly imperceptible following, and the duration and severity of the cold itself fell between normal parameters of expectation.
In mitigation, I have a bilaterally-compressed hard palate (Torus palatinus), with a sagittal ridge and my ear drainage, for instance is parlous - hence, of course an interest in successful Ost. intervention.
I specialize in the cranial field, and having developed a judicious {!} mechanism/technique for destruction of cells and tissues (initially for removal of obstructive scar-tissue), I tried applying it across the infective loading of cold viruses - highly tuned for specificity, in the interest of reducing total titre.
I had to try this several times in different ways before I started to get lasting effects. Nonetheless, a quick intervention as soon as a cold is suspected appears to work very well indeed. Once the cold is established I have to treat and re-treat, 3x est. due to deeper penetration of viruses, but reduction of titre here will still mitigate the current symptoms. Most significantly, the production of mucus caused by the eventual humoral response can be cut to nearly nothing - a hell of a boon, in many cases and saving of a good deal of racking cough.
I haven't noticed any other effects, i.e. failure of humoral response due to reduced titre, for instance. The H.R. happens, but there's not much left for it to do. As such, I can assume that there probably is a lasting immune record of the viral assault.
Best regards
Dick
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Permalink Reply by GABRIEL SUNER LLITERAS on -
If a person comes to you for a common cold treatment in acute phase, how often do you treat him?
I am thinking of doing my thesis in treating common cold using classical osteopathic approach, as you have described.
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Permalink Reply by Small Fry on -
Depends what you mean by treatment. The cure for a common cold is an oxymoron (contradiction in terms), because in natural healing terms, the cold IS the cure. All the symptoms are produced by the body in response to something we can't see (a more insidious problem). Have you noticed how people with cancer nearly always say they haven't had a cold or flu for years?
I wonder what Dick expected to happen following his treatment, except for his immune system to carry on doing it's absolutely brilliant job of saving his life.
First response for a cold (shame it's now a brand name for an OTC product totally lacking in evidence-base) is to go to bed, drink lots of water and let time sort it out. If the symptoms are causing undue discomfort, or progressing in a way that seems something isn't right, then treatment is based on what you think is going on at the time, and why.
Remember, an 'Osteopathic' approach means a theory, not a toolkit, so my suggestion for your thesis - start with the theory, and let the toolkit follow from that.
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Permalink Reply by indikate on -
I am mostly with Small Fry on this one and I will share with you what happens when one of the seven of us at home has severe cold symptoms. Bed, lots of ionised water, vit c (5 g if its me) hot herbal soup with lemon and chillies, lots of chillies. If these symptoms persist more than one day then its treatment time
I found Dicks method very interesting and would like to know some more. Do you approach neoplastic tissue in this way?
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Permalink Reply by Small Fry on
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I don't wish to sound competitive here, but 5g of vit c? Pah!
Last time I had a cold (which also came with a fever incidentally), I took 75g over the course of a day, and the whole thing passed in 24 hours. No stomach wobbles from that either, so it must have all been utilised.
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Permalink Reply by GABRIEL SUNER LLITERAS on
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Once Littlejohn once was asked what was the purpose of osteopathy and he asked that the purpose of osteopathy was " make life more comfortable to the patient".
I agree that most of the times in common colds only a good nursing is requiered, plenty of water and rest.So, what must be our duty as osteopaths in these kind of disorders?
May be to prevent possible complications as sinusitis, middle ear infections or bronchitis.But as Littlejohn may be we can help patient to cope better with the symptoms of the common cold.
Small Fry said:Depends what you mean by treatment. The cure for a common cold is an oxymoron (contradiction in terms), because in natural healing terms, the cold IS the cure. All the symptoms are produced by the body in response to something we can't see (a more insidious problem). Have you noticed how people with cancer nearly always say they haven't had a cold or flu for years?
I wonder what Dick expected to happen following his treatment, except for his immune system to carry on doing it's absolutely brilliant job of saving his life.
First response for a cold (shame it's now a brand name for an OTC product totally lacking in evidence-base) is to go to bed, drink lots of water and let time sort it out. If the symptoms are causing undue discomfort, or progressing in a way that seems something isn't right, then treatment is based on what you think is going on at the time, and why.
Remember, an 'Osteopathic' approach means a theory, not a toolkit, so my suggestion for your thesis - start with the theory, and let the toolkit follow from that.
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Permalink Reply by Small Fry on
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A cold is just a name for a collection of symptoms. Treatment of the cold is like chasing the end of the rainbow. So I just think the question needs clarifying. Im not sure what it is you want to know.
Avoiding complications is certainly a worthy aim, so is keeping the process on track and so on. What causes these things to go wrong? Obstructions to health. How does the body solve obstructions to health? By acute symptoms. Danny doesn't talk about cure, but a swift and uncomplicated recovery. That's fine. I'm not sure what Dick was after in his treatment. A free lunch probably. Otherwise, understanding the patterns of chronic and acute disease behaviour is really what makes osteopathy different. How the patient is in a year is more important than whether they are back in the office tomorrow.
Familiarity with the ways of the body's own medicine chest is what prevents an acute case from spiralling out of control - sometimes the best medicine is to leave alone, the trick is in knowing when.
You've chosen a challenging topic that needs careful navigation to avoid contradictions and pitfalls. But interesting. Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Damien Dufourd on -
Much appreciated tips !
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Permalink Reply by Small Fry on
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Hi Paul Steeper, let's just be clear that cold symptoms are evidence of a reaction by the body to something. I hope you're with me so far? If we take at face value the idea that we are attacked by a virus, it is not the virus that produces the mucus etc, but our own glands, the symptoms are all functions of various elements of the immune system. Even staying with the medical orthodoxy, the point of those functions is to protect us from virus - why would we want that to stop?
Immune-suppressed people don't get colds, but they are more prone to getting cancer. And this tallies with experience of discussions with friends, family, colleagues and patients, both in casual conversation, and whenever exploring a case history has taken it into areas such as colds, prior cancer history and general health. It seems that the absence of the cold may be the issue, not whether they are on medication. The flip side of that is that fever, has been well-researched as a treatment for cancer, and its effects are known, both inside and outside of medicine. Not that I attempt to treat cancer, I don't; but I am not alarmed when fever is present. Pyrexy generally has a role in local inflammation also, which is fundamentally a repair process, as I was taught it in my 21st century osteopathy training.
As for paracetamol, I don't know, but using it to lower fever does predispose to asthma and eczema, which is then often followed by steroids, later immune suppression and so on. And it is in the NIHCE guidelines not to lower fever by drugs for its own sake. And so far I haven't even left solid ground medically. So you are indeed asking an important question.
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