Deborah Heath

A fast-growing area of high-resolution ultrasound imaging is localizing painful regions termed myofascial tender points (MTP). To mitigate pain and reduce musculoskeletal nodularity and stiffness, osteopathic physicians perform loco-regional osteopathic manipulative procedures (OMT). Current MTP-diagnostic and clinical efficacy criteria using sono-...

Context: Patients frequently present to the outpatient clinic, urgent care, or emergency department with a painful, swollen knee. Differentiating the underlying etiology can be a challenge for both medical students and seasoned clinicians alike. Because this scenario can represent a time-sensitive emergency, developing skills to diagnose the under...

Context The Mini-Clinical Evaluation Exercise (Mini-CEX) is one example of a direct observation tool used for workplace-based skills assessment. The Mini-CEX has been validated as a useful formative evaluation tool in graduate medical education. However, no Mini-CEX has been reported in the literature that specifically assesses the osteopathic mani...

Medical education technology initiatives can be used to prepare osteopathic medical students for modern primary care practice and to provide students with training to serve vulnerable populations. Over academic years 2014 through 2017, the authors designed and implemented 26 case studies using patient simulations through a virtual community health...

Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) has been recognized as a management option for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), although limited research exists to substantiate its effectiveness. To evaluate the effectiveness of OMT in the management of CTS. This single-blinded quasi-controlled trial was conducted at an academic institution. Participants wit...

The first 2 years of osteopathic medical school involve training in osteopathic principles and practice, including understanding the tenets of osteopathic medicine and developing palpatory skills for clinical application. Although this training emphasizes the link between somatic dysfunction and physiologic function, it does not include the opportu...

Skin blood flow (SBF) indexes have been used to describe physiological mechanisms associated with spinal manual therapy (SMT). The aims of the current review were to assess methods for data collection, assess how investigators interpreted SBF changes, and formulate recommendations to advance manual medicine research. A database search was performed...

Osteopathic manual treatment (OMT) of somatic dysfunction is a unique approach to medical care that may be studied within a practice-based research network. To measure patient characteristics and osteopathic physician practice patterns within the Consortium for Collaborative Osteopathic Research Development-Practice-Based Research Network (CONCORD-...