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Welcome to the More Than a Medical School podcast on the Arkansas State Media Network.
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I'm Casey Pierce.
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I'm the Director of External Relations and Marketing for NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine.
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We're a medical school that operates on the Arkansas State University campus in partnership with a state.
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And the point of this podcast is to tell you about our medical school, to teach you about osteopathic medicine, and help you learn more about the opportunity that students have to get a medical education right here in Jonesboro and then go serve our communities in our surrounding state and region.
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Today we're going to be talking specifically about osteopathic medicine and about one of the unique things that differentiates osteopathic physicians from our allopathic counterparts.
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We're going to take a deep dive into osteopathic manipulative medicine, and we're going to explain what that is and why it's important to the training of physicians.
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To do that, I'm joined by Dr.
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Kenzie Cornick.
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He is an osteopathic physician.
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He's the chair of our department of osteopathic manipulative medicine.
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We're going to tell you what that means as we get going.
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Dr.
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Cornick, thanks for joining me.
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Start off, just tell us a little about who you are, where you went to school, and what brought you to Arkansas.
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Well, thanks for having me uh on this uh Casey.
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It's been uh it's been great to be here in Arkansas.
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I'm actually not from here originally.
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I'm from North Central Iowa and uh I grew up born and raised there, and I went to medical school, uh, an osteopathic uh medical school at Des Moines University in Des Moines, Iowa.
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And uh from there, just through my years of training in terms of residency um and then practice and beyond, eventually uh our uh family moved here to Jonesboro.
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And that was uh in part due to uh our uh uh my wife's family moving down to north central Arkansas.
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And so when I moved here, I actually didn't have the intention to join the uh uh osteobathic medical school here.
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It was just to find a f uh position uh in family medicine and uh all the pieces aligned, and that's how I ended up uh at NYIT Com at Arkansas State University.
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So and we got really fortunate in that.
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So uh let's jump right into it.
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We're gonna build into talking about one of your areas of expertise, which is osteopathic manipulative medicine or OMM as we'll call it.
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That's the last time I have to say the whole thing out loud.
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But before I get there, I think we need to give a strong definition of osteopathic medicine.
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I'm sure you get asked this all the time when you tell people you're a DO, uh, you get asked to explain that.
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I get asked at least three or four times a week, you work in an osteopathic school, what's that mean?
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So, in simplest terms, how do you describe osteopathic medicine uh in your education and background?
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Of course.
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So uh osteopathic medicine or OMM, uh, in terms of what we view as um how we train physicians is OMM is the broader sense of how we train physicians to maybe think differently, to think more proactively, to think about the body uh as a unit, right?
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So it's not just that a patient um only comes to you with physical ailments, it might be that they have uh emotional concerns, it might be that they're experiencing uh financial concerns in their life, which is then affecting their health in other ways.
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So um that's the broad overarching principle.
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And then OMM, OMT in terms of manual treatment, is where I use my hands to treat a patient for various complaints.
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Now, that could be uh a complaint of pain in whatever body region.
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It could also be that they're experiencing a limited range of motion or they're trying to recover from a surgery and they haven't quite gained that uh range of motion like they wanted to, or it can be a variety of other things, even something as simple as constipation in a child or or helping to um alleviate an ear infection in a child in addition to um uh antibiotics.
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And so yeah, that's kind of a broad you know stroke of what uh OMM is and how I generally will start that conversation with a patient who doesn't know.
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So we talk about the tenets of osteopathic medicine.
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You said philosophy, it's a different osteopathic medicine is a different way to approach uh and I always try to point out to people that the father of osteopathic medicine, Dr.
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Andrew Taylor Still, A.T.
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Still, he was an MD.
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He was an allopathic physician, and he just kind of had some ideas, some philosophies of a better way to do things.
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Is that right?
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Yeah.
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So uh Andrew Taylor Still, AT Still, he uh lived during the uh latter half of the uh 19th century in the 18 uh 70s was when he uh discovered or or kind of identified and established osteopathic medicine as um a new form of medicine.
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And you're right, he was an MD, but we have to go back and back then, um becoming an MD or becoming a physician back then was uh in the form of an apprenticeship.
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And so his father before him was actually a physician, and so he, as he became an adult, uh apprenticed under his father.
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And and then uh back then it was just simply a matter of dad taking A.T.
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still down to the courthouse and and uh his father giving a statement that I have trained my son in uh or this person in the arts of uh becoming a physician, and that is your degree in essence at that time.
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And so that was a different time, different era, right?
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And so, but uh he went on to um you know be involved as a physician and surgeon during um the Civil War.
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And and then after that, he um, you know, continued to practice.
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And a lot of his practice was obstetrics, actually helping to deliver babies.
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Um, and so uh after you know the Civil War and all of the surgeries that came with that, um, he continued to practice.
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And then at some point um he had lost three children um or three adopted children um from uh cases of meningitis.
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Um there was an epidemic of at meningitis back then, and he kind of just became very disillusioned with the treatments at the time.
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So again, Civil War era, we're talking about you know, amputations for facic wounds um that would become infected because antibiotics didn't exist back then.
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Um, it was bloodletting, it was treating people with mercury, right?
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Uh so it was a very, very different time in medicine as a whole, and he just really became disillusioned by it and felt there had to be a better way to care for a person.
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There had to be a better way to help people come back to health.
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And so um that's where he started to think differently.
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He really was a radical thinker.
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And um, I I think even now we take new insights into what he meant.
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Um he was a prolific writer, he wrote several books, um, including, you know, his own autobiography.
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And it was something where you see just different ways to interpret all of those different um thoughts and and ideas that he had even now.
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Yeah, and you know, maybe not as extreme, but we get when we talk about health.
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I mean, there's a lot of you know, the social media influencer and all that world, there are a lot of conversations today that are going on about are are we sure that the these traditional methods are the best way to do things?
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And I think the idea of osteopathic medicine, a a focus on wellness, diet, exercise, mental health, emotional health, those are all things that are pretty popular.
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And when when we explain that to people, it's like that sounds like a really good thing.
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Yeah, and and that's really where it seems like we've been almost playing this long game as osteopathic physicians, where we've been talking about this for, you know, almost 150 years at this point.
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Um, and yet just now we're starting to see the you know, the general public turn and see the the power in some of these things.
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Um, and that's really been something that, again, Andrew Taylor still has been preaching and and and trying to practice and teach others to practice since, you know, again, back into the late 1800s.
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So I want to go back to that philosophy idea.
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Uh, we hear about the tenets of osteopathic medicine.
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That's kind of the if uh he if Dr.
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Still had to write uh four bullet points about what he saw differently, how he was going to try to move medicine forward, do things differently.
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Uh, we've got those lined out.
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Can you share those with us and kind of how they they play into how an osteopathic physician is trained?
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Of course, of course.
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So um the four tenets um were derived from uh Andrew Taylor Still's teachings, and we identified them as the first being the body is a unit, and that a person is a unit of body, mind, and spirit.
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Another way to say this is that we need to look at the person as a whole person, not just that the person has a, you know, their liver and their gallbladder, and we need to treat the issue that is going on in their liver or gallbladder.
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No, it's seeing the person as a whole and taking care of that whole person.
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The second tenet is where the body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, um, and self-maintenance.
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And that's really just to acknowledge that our body is capable of doing a lot of things on its own.
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And, you know, we see that just in the simplest form of what happens when you have a you know a scrape on your knee, or what happens after surgery, or the only reason why we can do surgery is because our body's capable of healing.
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So that's the second tenet.
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The third tenet is that structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.
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Okay.
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Um if something's not um built right, if if you've if you've got a board falling down on your fence, your whole fence is gonna can fall apart, or you're it creates uh I g I guess I don't know if that's a great analogy, but you know where I'm going there.
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I've I've got a pretty good one, and it's a it's funny and it's really obvious, but I think it illustrates the point.
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And uh an example of this is let's say that um I'm trying to um you know do some significant yard work around my yard and and I need to go to a a um a you know a local nursery or or a store to get uh a lot of mulch.
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We're talking, you know, not just a bag of mulch, but you know, a whole load of mulch, right?
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And and I show up and I've got a Toyota Prius.
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Well, the structure of a Toyota Prius doesn't really fit the function of being able to haul that much mulch back to my house.
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Yeah.
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That's gonna be 20, 30 trips at minimum.
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If I can even, how do I get the mulch in the tr in the Prius, right?
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So a structure that would be more appropriate for that function would be a truck with an open bed, right?
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So it's an obvious example and it's it's silly, and I always chuckle at it, but it does illustrate the point that our body has various structures, and those structures formed in a purpose to serve some function, right?
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Every bone in our body um developed in a way that serves some function.
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Um, a lot of our bones uh as we grow during childhood, change in terms of where muscles are attached.
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So they become more strong and prominent in certain areas where muscles are attaching.
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And that's because that part of the bone was always meant to serve the function of being the site for muscle attachment, right?
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And so it's also looking at, well, if the structure is impaired, right?
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So, like you mentioned, if a board falls uh on a on a uh fence or a tree falls on a fence, right?
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It disrupts the structure of the fence.
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Well, what if something is impeding the flow of blood?
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That's another thing where the structure of the body is now impeding the flow, which is the function.
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So we now have less blood flow to an area.
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That area can't receive the nutrients, the oxygen, the other uh aspects that it needs to be a healthy tissue, right?
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Yeah.
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So um, that's the third tenet, uh, structure and function.
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And then the fourth tenet is that rational treatment is based on the principles of self-regulation, of the body is a unit, the person is a unit of body, mind, and spirit, and the idea of structure and function.
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So, in essence, that we base the rational treatment on a for a patient on those three above tenets that we just described.
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One thing that I always try to point out in these discussions is there are a lot of similarities between an osteopathic and an allopathic physician, a DO and an MD.
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There are significant um similarities, but there are some distinct differences.
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And, you know, one of the things, again, that I try to point out is DOs do prescribe medicine, uh, they do perform surgery if they're trained appropriate, they can be trained appropriately to do that.
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Um, but they're also trained with that mindset, like you were talking about, that those are not the first places to always go.
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Let's look at a step back, look at a big picture and see if there's a another way to do this.
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Is that yeah?
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And and that's where um I gave an example earlier about, you know, doing OMT or OM OMM uh as a way to augment a child's ear infection treatment, right?
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Um, if I have a child who has an ear infection, I'm still going to prescribe them an antibiotic because that's the appropriate intervention that they need.
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But I also am going to maybe perform again a hands-on treatment that helps to influence the lymphatic drainage or the drainage of that fluid in that middle ear.
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So again, it's something that we do both.
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It's not an exclusive, we only do this or we only do that.
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And um that's where I some of my best friends from uh from my medical school uh are now a vascular surgeon and an uh Obi-Guyne.
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Uh, and that's where you know they both come into it where yes, they are surgeons and and they are going to perform uh, you know, surgeons just like an MD would.
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Um, but they also might approach a patient in that initial, you know, uh consult differently.
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They might think differently about, well, is surgery really the best thing for this person, or do they need to address some other things before we do surgery?
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Um, so that's kind of the way I talk about it with patients.
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And and just to remind them that again, in our country, we we have the same rights, privileges, and responsibilities as any other MD or allopathic physician.
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And so we are still in the hospitals, we are in the clinics, we are in ERs.
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Um, and not every DO, unfortunately, does hands-on treatment.
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Um, that's something that we're hoping to change, of course, uh, because it is something that it's such a wonderful uh uh benefit to our patients.
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But it's also something where, you know, like my friends who are are surgeons, you know, their skills lie elsewhere, right?
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And so we have to acknowledge that some um some DOs also just have incredible skills that um we need to utilize them and let them thrive in in whatever world they find themselves in.
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And um, but again, we'll continue to talk about the hands-on aspect of this too.
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Yeah, and that's why we wanted to specifically help our future students, our perspective students, understand the distinctions, the distinctions between osteopathic and allopathic medicine specifically.
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But OMM is a big part of that, uh, especially from the curriculum standpoint.
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Curricularly, uh is that is that a word?
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I'll make it sound, I'll say it confidently so it sounds like it.
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But from a curriculum standpoint, the only thing that is different between the what our students have to study is the practice of OMM.
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It's about 200 extra hours in their education.
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I know you hit on it briefly, but explain a little bit more how it's the hands-on treatment, how you use your hands to treat and diagnose.
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Yeah.
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And you're right, it is really the primary difference when you look at a curriculum on paper, right?
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Um, there's some other subtle differences in maybe how we present some lectures that you might have an asthma lecture that's given in an MD or allopathic school.
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Um, and it might cover a lot of the same things that we cover in an asthma lecture at our school, but there might also be some additional components to that asthma lecture that are more specific to us.
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But again, we cover the same topics, right?
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We need to teach medicine that as we know it in terms of all the various patient conditions and diseases.
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Um, but then the biggest difference, like you said, is 200 hours.
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And that's not a small number for those listening.
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It is a really significant investment in time because it is hands-on.
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You have to experience it.
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It's not something that you can just hit two times speed and watch a video about.
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Um, and so in our labs, you know, we we have uh tables that uh each student is paired up with another student and you're performing hands-on diagnosis and treatment.
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And the the simplest way I describe this as patients is I'm going to use my hands.
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I'm gonna palpate and feel things with my hands on your body in terms of whether it's the shoulder and feeling the motion of the shoulder joint, or whether it's feeling the tension in the muscles, or whether I find that I can't get the same um mobility of a joint.
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Um, and so those are uh some of the basics of how we describe this.
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And as we teach this, we kind of move region to region in terms of we start in the thoracic spine and we go through how to diagnose the thoracic spine with uh what we call somatic dysfunctions.
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And somatic dysfunction just means body dysfunction.
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And what that means is that there is something related to the structure of the thoracic spine that it has been altered that now is creating dysfunction somewhere.
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That can be something as simple as a slight twist to the spine that isn't perfectly neutral.
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Um, it could be that one side of the muscles on uh the spine that help to allow us to sit up or to uh slouch down is now really, you know, dysfunctional, intense, and hypertonic on one side, but not on the other.
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Um, so those are some examples of as we start that thoracic spine unit, and then we move into how do we treat that.
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So I always tell patients we have about 10 different styles or techniques that we teach.
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And in the first year, we'll um generally cover about three of those technique styles.
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And then in the second year is when we really expand and fill out the rest of those technique styles in various ways.
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But um the first year is a very strong core of what you need to know um as you go uh go on to your next years.
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But um, second year is really where we get to apply it and bring in the nuance of, well, maybe this treatment style isn't the right uh right one for this patient.
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But here, let's let's talk about this style.
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And that's where some of these techniques might seem very very familiar or or that you might observe and think, well, I maybe I've seen that before.
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And and maybe you have, because we don't have an exclusive, you know, rights on on manual treatment or hands-on treatment.
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We just have our 10 styles of treatments, and some of them can have some similarities with other hands-on treatments that you might see by a physical therapist, for example.
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Um, but it's something where uh again, we have those 10 styles, and some of them are very gentle and and very um, you know, I always say that sometimes patients will, you know, when I tell them that they're done, they'll ask, wait, what did you exactly do?
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Because it really wasn't very noticeable to them.
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Um, so sometimes it can be that subtle and that gentle, and other times it might be that we are really positioning the patient in a in a lot more motion and having them actually do something to help us.
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So you mentioned other touch therapy.
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I want to I want to go there.
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You didn't say chiropractor, but I think when people hear OMM and adjustment and moving and, you know, again, touch therapy, that's one of the places that they go to.
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And I believe Dr.
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Still had some close relationships with chiropractors.
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Can you kind of flesh that out for us?
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Yeah.
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And so, yeah, like like I said, it's something where they also perform manual treatment, they perform hands-on treatment, they have their own style.
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And and actually the the founder uh of the chiropractic uh uh thought process or treatment style was actually in Andrew Taylor Still's first class of of uh osteopathy.
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And so it's it's really where there was some connection there.
00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:19.279
But um, that student and ended up leaving and did not complete his his um training with AT still, and he moved on and and had some of his own ideas that he wanted to flesh out and develop, and that's what he did.
00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:26.559
And so that's where we kind of have a divergence there, and that's why there's some similarities, but again, that they're distinct, they're still different.
00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:32.960
Um, but again, they might seem familiar for somebody in the general public because there is just the differences are subtle sometimes.
00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:49.920
Well, and one thing, again, I always try to point out in this conversation when I have it with people, and I'm not at the level of expert that someone who's gone through the education, but chiropractors are not medical doctors, so their scope is a lot more limited than what an osteopathic physician does.
00:19:50.079 --> 00:20:00.880
And can you know, an osteopathic physician can perform that touch therapy, but also has that full scope of prescribing uh full panel of medicine and all those things.
00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:01.839
Is that yeah?
00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:08.160
I I the way I describe that to patients sometimes is we operate from a medical diagnosis, right?
00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:20.559
As DOs, that is one of the primary things that really differentiates us from anybody else who does hands-on therapy is I may see a patient and I'm gonna hear their complaint, I'm gonna take their history, I'm gonna do a physical exam.
00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:24.640
And let's say it's a a patient with low back pain that radiates down their leg.
00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:38.160
And let's say we do that workup, I do my exam, and I'm concerned that they have what we would refer to as lumbar ridiculopathy, or that there's a potential nerve impingement that is happening as the spine, a spinal nerve exits that vertebral body of the spine.
00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.359
And and that means that, okay, well, what do we do about that, right?
00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:44.400
I'm gonna come to my diagnosis, I'm gonna make a plan of treatment.
00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:48.160
And that plan of treatment is going to include potentially imaging.
00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:54.960
Um, it may include physical therapy, referring to physical therapy for various, you know, rehab type uh programs.
00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:59.680
It also may include hands-on therapy where I recommend OMM or OMT.
00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:14.160
And and when I describe that to patients, it's my manual treatment may not change in terms of directly having an impact on that nerve root, you know, but I can't reach into you and change that nerve route, right?
00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:18.400
But I can change the the structures around that spine.
00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:21.599
I can change the tension maybe in the muscles around that spine.
00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:35.359
I can help to maybe alleviate some of that pressure or help to strengthen our body's resiliency to help, you know, bring about better healing in the again, maybe through PT or whether they do need to consider something like a therapeutic injection.
00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:41.200
So again, I prescribed OMT for the diagnosis of lumbar ridiculopathy.
00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:42.319
That's where I came from.
00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:47.680
Whereas other forms of manual treatment are generally based on a complaint.
00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:52.480
My back hurts, my neck hurts, and and perform some treatment on it from there.
00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:52.880
Yeah.
00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:59.200
And that goes back to the whole osteopathy physicians look at a big picture, and there's a lot of pieces to that puzzle.
00:21:59.359 --> 00:21:59.519
Right.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:00.240
Exactly.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:00.480
Yep.
00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:02.799
And that's where again, it's just that's where we operate from.
00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:12.720
We we come into it as we are still physicians, we still come to a diagnosis, we still teach again all the same, you know, styles of how do I ask questions?
00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:14.400
How do I get the history from the patient?
00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:22.000
How do I perform exam in terms of listening to the heart and lungs, to doing uh other tests and palpation of the abdomen?
00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:32.960
Um, so all of those things still come into play, but it just I have the ability to also perform that hands-on manual treatment to help a patient in whatever capacity I feel is appropriate.
00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:45.200
One of the simple explanations I was given early on when I was new to osteopathic medicine, just when I came to work here, was uh I was told that a lot of patients that have carpal tunnel pain or receive OMT for that.
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:50.559
That that's a pretty easy way for me to understand if you're able to manipulate that joint, relieve the pressure.
00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:52.640
Is that one that you go to kind of explain?
00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:56.319
Yeah, so that's a really common condition is carpal tunnel syndrome, right?
00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:58.720
And so that's a a low-hanging fruit, right?
00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:02.559
Yeah, where you know a lot of people know what that is, and a lot of people know what that feels like.
00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:08.640
Well, that's something where, sure, there's you know, various techniques that can be used or treatments that can be used to treat that, right?
00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:15.039
There can be bracing or splinting at night um to help relieve some of that improper positioning of the wrist.
00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:17.839
Um, it could progress all the way to surgery, right?
00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:22.720
The thing is, though, is that sometimes surgery isn't a permanent fix, right?
00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:28.240
And so really it's a space problem, it's an anatomy problem, is what carpal tunnel syndrome usually comes down to.
00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:34.400
And and so if there's changes to the structure again, like we mentioned, it maybe impeding the blood flow, right?
00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:38.799
Well, how what if we impede the the natural flow of the nerve impulses?
00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:42.640
And that's where we can get those pain or nerve tingling sensations.
00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:53.759
And so, can I perform treatment at the wrist or or even higher up to help to relieve relieve or alleviate that uh type of dysfunction and then restore that patient to normal function?
00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:54.960
Yeah, awesome.
00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:56.640
Well, what are some other things?
00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:04.240
Uh you mentioned constipation that you're able to manipulate to to provide that touch therapy to get your bowels flowing.
00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:10.960
That's often what are some other kind of common, you said low-hanging fruit, like yeah, easy for dummies like me to understand how that's applied.
00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:18.799
So um constipation is a a a great example because it's something that's applicable in kids, but also something that's applicable even in older adults.
00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:23.119
And so, even something as simple as a patient that's admitted to the hospital, right?
00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:31.279
And let's say they have a pneumonia, okay, um, but they're not moving, they're they're in a hospital bed, they're not getting up and walking as much because they're so ill.
00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:36.720
Well, our gut relies on our own bodily movements to help move stool around, right?
00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:40.720
And so if we're not moving things, then how do we help facilitate that?
00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:52.160
And that's where just doing some um, you know, attractioning of the colon uh to help move the stool along is one way to help alleviate that uh in somebody who's maybe bedraiding or in a hospital bed.
00:24:52.240 --> 00:25:05.039
But it can also be used in a you know, in an infant where we don't really have medications other than, you know, ounce of fruit juice, a prune juice, things like that, um, which again works great for a lot of a lot of liquidos, but uh it's something where sometimes that's not enough.
00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:17.839
And so even just being able to palpate and help their developing gut kind of do better at moving stool around, especially uh in the that six-month range when they start to get introduced to new foods and their gut's really trying to sort out.
00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:26.880
Well, that's a great way to be able to help uh uh kids get you know relief from that, you know, pressure and and that uh you know painful type of uh of bowel movement.
00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:31.119
So is there any other kind of commonality things we think of all the time?
00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:32.960
Well, uh uh headaches.
00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:39.759
Um, we have a faculty member who has received some NIH funding to study OMM treatment for migraines.
00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:45.599
That's a pretty common absolutely headaches, migraines are very, very common uh conditions.
00:25:45.680 --> 00:26:02.799
Um, it's something where uh we can perform treatments not only on the head, but also on the neck, which is uh really a primary source of a lot of uh tension type headaches, but even we're finding out more and more just how much tension in the neck and shoulder and the upper back region can contribute to migraine onset or migraine triggers, right?
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:14.240
And so that's where if we find somatic dysfunction in in those regions, and then we can help facilitate that, it can serve not only as a treatment for headaches and migraines, but can also be done on a preventative basis as well.
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:25.200
So that's where, you know, I'm I'm even seeing uh uh a young female who's uh currently pregnant and she had been on a medication for migraines, which is not uh recommended during pregnancy.
00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:35.119
And really her migraines are pretty well under control, but that's where being pregnant, she's now been having more and haven't haven't been able to use the medications that she normally would.
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:43.680
Well, she's come to me and she's come on a fairly consistent basis where she doesn't always wait until things get bad again in terms of the migraines becoming more frequent.
00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:47.680
She really gets a lot of relief from me just treating the neck, shoulders, and upper back.
00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:53.359
Um, and that kind of gets her for um, I want to say the last time I saw her was maybe two, three months ago now.
00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:59.359
And so we're almost to the end of our pregnancy at this point, but she'll come back and and be better than what she was the last time.
00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:09.359
But it's just something we're having that little bit of a touch point and check-in and being able to address that can help prevent migraines for her for another, you know, two to three months and get through the rest of her pregnancy.
00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:12.960
From an education standpoint, what can our future students expect?
00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:20.160
And I know you got into it a little bit about you teach certain techniques, but how do you kind of introduce them to the OMM lab when they get there?
00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:20.720
Yeah.
00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:27.440
So um the cool, the coolest part about the OMM lab is from day one, we are doing patient care, right?
00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:33.519
We are teaching you how to care for patients from day one in the OMM lab, which is different than a lot of your other courses, right?
00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:39.359
Um, a lot of your other courses, you don't really get into some of the treatments until later on, maybe that first semester.
00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:43.599
Um, but that's where from day one, we're teaching you how to interact with patients, how to help patients.
00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:56.079
Um, and it's just this great uh, you know, kind of learning curve that you see where the the ability to palpate, you know, and the and the sense of palpation that the students will develop over time and how much better it gets over the first few months.
00:27:56.160 --> 00:28:06.079
Um, but really it's something where if you come into it with just an open mind and understanding that there is a path that we we know where you will you'll travel through.
00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:13.359
And so trust that, you know, when we uh you know ask you to practice these things in a certain way, it's because we want to develop those skills.
00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:28.720
And and you'll look back just like most of us and and you know, kind of laugh at how you know, maybe uh inexperienced or or almost, you know, uh kind of feebly you tried the first few weeks and and just how much better it got within just even a few months.
00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:43.279
And so really just having that open mind and and really being eager to learn because we're not only gonna teach you OMM, we're also gonna talk about the anatomy of the body because that's one of the biggest principles that drive again the structure and function.
00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:47.519
So um it's really a great lab that really puts a lot of pieces together.
00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:53.359
And um, like I said, really from day one, it's it we're teaching you how to be a physician, an osteopathic physician.
00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:58.000
Our our OMM lab, there's a lot of skeletal models uh all over the the building.
00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:01.359
So I kind of plays into it's a build on that anatomy.
00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:05.279
You're constantly learning this is where that is, this is what that is, this is how it works.
00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:06.079
Yeah, exactly.
00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:16.559
And so that's where, yes, full skeletons, but we also have lots of other various anatomy models um to help maybe illustrate the motions of a joint or or where the attachments of certain muscles or ligaments are.
00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:21.680
Um and that and that's where we use models when we need to, but we also just demonstrate techniques, right?
00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:25.279
So I'm gonna show you how to do this uh myself.
00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:27.440
I'm gonna perform a diagnosis.
00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:32.160
I'm gonna perform the treatment on one of uh the students and and demonstrate it in front of you.
00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:38.880
And we have cameras uh of various angles so that we can give you different perspectives where we have multiple camera angles all at the same time.
00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:44.480
So you can see, you know, oh, I see how that, you know, compares to where I am standing.
00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:45.440
Okay, that makes sense.
00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:56.319
And then we have the ability to throw on multiple TVs, we can throw up anatomy pictures to help maybe uh uh elicit, you know, this is what you're feeling under your hands as you're moving this patient in that position.
00:29:56.799 --> 00:29:59.519
Is there any common misconceptions about OMM?
00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:04.559
Or I guess probably the biggest inhibitor is you know, we're the first DO school in Arkansas.
00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:14.240
We've had osteopathic physicians practicing in Arkansas for a hundred years, but I mean, in in the mass quantities that they've seen in the last 10 years, now we have two DO schools in Arkansas.
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:20.400
I think some of the concepts of osteopathic medicine, the principles of OMM are new to a lot of people who live around here.
00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:24.799
So is education maybe that biggest kind of um hurdle, you think?
00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:34.400
Yeah, I I think really it's helping just to uh give people that lens of why things might be a little different coming from a DO versus an MD.
00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:52.960
Um, and sometimes that is more uh more distinct when we're talking about the hands-on treatment in OMM, just because they may have in their head what that looks like in in some sense, whether that's a chiropractor or a physical therapist or something, but it also might be that they just well, what is what does DO even stand for, right?
00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:56.880
Um and so sometimes they're pretty easy barriers to break down.
00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:05.519
And uh a lot of patients, even if I'm meeting them for the first time and and we're talking about how I can help them, it's something we're just walking them through it.
00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:13.839
And it's something where I I probably have these conversations about, well, here's what I'm going to try to accomplish by doing this technique for you.
00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:19.359
Um, here's how I'm gonna use my hands or place my hands, and and this is what I need you to do to help me.
00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:31.599
Um, it's something where a lot of patients just walking them through those basics is something that really helps them to connect and understand and really just have a better sense of why they feel some of the things that they do.
00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:43.359
And that's really one of the the great benefits of of you know helping patients is sometimes I don't need a MRI or or a lab test to help a patient understand why they're feeling a certain way.
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:49.599
Sometimes it's just helping them understand, again, their own body, the structure of their body, how it's supposed to function.
00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:54.880
And even just teaching them about that is something that really is sometimes very life-altering and life-changing for them.
00:31:55.039 --> 00:31:55.359
Well, Dr.
00:31:55.440 --> 00:31:58.160
Cornick, we certainly appreciate your insight, your perspective.
00:31:58.319 --> 00:31:59.599
This has been really informative.
00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:04.160
And uh, we hope you've enjoyed listening to the More Than a Medical School podcast.
00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:13.279
And we tried to help you to understand a little bit more about osteopathic medicine and what a great way it is to serve patients and to teach future physicians.
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:20.480
So you can learn more about our medical school by visiting us online at nyit.edu slash Arkansas.
00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:27.200
Our social media channels are at NYITCOM AR for NYIT COM Arkansas.
00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:29.200
We hope you've enjoyed our conversation.
00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:31.279
We look forward to meeting with you the next time.
00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:32.400
Thanks so much.
00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:14.080
Welcome to the More Than a Medical School podcast on the Arkansas State Media Network.
00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:15.279
I'm Casey Pierce.
00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:20.160
I'm the Director of External Relations and Marketing for NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine.
00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:25.839
We're a medical school that operates on the Arkansas State University campus in partnership with a state.
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And the point of this podcast is to tell you about our medical school, to teach you about osteopathic medicine, and help you learn more about the opportunity that students have to get a medical education right here in Jonesboro and then go serve our communities in our surrounding state and region.
00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:54.399
Today we're going to be talking specifically about osteopathic medicine and about one of the unique things that differentiates osteopathic physicians from our allopathic counterparts.
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We're going to take a deep dive into osteopathic manipulative medicine, and we're going to explain what that is and why it's important to the training of physicians.
00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:05.519
To do that, I'm joined by Dr.
00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:06.640
Kenzie Cornick.
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He is an osteopathic physician.
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He's the chair of our department of osteopathic manipulative medicine.
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We're going to tell you what that means as we get going.
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Dr.
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Cornick, thanks for joining me.
00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:20.159
Start off, just tell us a little about who you are, where you went to school, and what brought you to Arkansas.
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Well, thanks for having me uh on this uh Casey.
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It's been uh it's been great to be here in Arkansas.
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I'm actually not from here originally.
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I'm from North Central Iowa and uh I grew up born and raised there, and I went to medical school, uh, an osteopathic uh medical school at Des Moines University in Des Moines, Iowa.
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And uh from there, just through my years of training in terms of residency um and then practice and beyond, eventually uh our uh family moved here to Jonesboro.
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And that was uh in part due to uh our uh uh my wife's family moving down to north central Arkansas.
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And so when I moved here, I actually didn't have the intention to join the uh uh osteobathic medical school here.
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It was just to find a f uh position uh in family medicine and uh all the pieces aligned, and that's how I ended up uh at NYIT Com at Arkansas State University.
00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:10.400
So and we got really fortunate in that.
00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:12.159
So uh let's jump right into it.
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We're gonna build into talking about one of your areas of expertise, which is osteopathic manipulative medicine or OMM as we'll call it.
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That's the last time I have to say the whole thing out loud.
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But before I get there, I think we need to give a strong definition of osteopathic medicine.
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I'm sure you get asked this all the time when you tell people you're a DO, uh, you get asked to explain that.
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I get asked at least three or four times a week, you work in an osteopathic school, what's that mean?
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So, in simplest terms, how do you describe osteopathic medicine uh in your education and background?
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Of course.
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So uh osteopathic medicine or OMM, uh, in terms of what we view as um how we train physicians is OMM is the broader sense of how we train physicians to maybe think differently, to think more proactively, to think about the body uh as a unit, right?
00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:12.960
So it's not just that a patient um only comes to you with physical ailments, it might be that they have uh emotional concerns, it might be that they're experiencing uh financial concerns in their life, which is then affecting their health in other ways.
00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:15.599
So um that's the broad overarching principle.
00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:22.960
And then OMM, OMT in terms of manual treatment, is where I use my hands to treat a patient for various complaints.
00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:26.960
Now, that could be uh a complaint of pain in whatever body region.
00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:47.680
It could also be that they're experiencing a limited range of motion or they're trying to recover from a surgery and they haven't quite gained that uh range of motion like they wanted to, or it can be a variety of other things, even something as simple as constipation in a child or or helping to um alleviate an ear infection in a child in addition to um uh antibiotics.
00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:56.080
And so yeah, that's kind of a broad you know stroke of what uh OMM is and how I generally will start that conversation with a patient who doesn't know.
00:03:56.400 --> 00:03:59.520
So we talk about the tenets of osteopathic medicine.
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You said philosophy, it's a different osteopathic medicine is a different way to approach uh and I always try to point out to people that the father of osteopathic medicine, Dr.
00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:10.479
Andrew Taylor Still, A.T.
00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:12.080
Still, he was an MD.
00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:17.920
He was an allopathic physician, and he just kind of had some ideas, some philosophies of a better way to do things.
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Is that right?
00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:19.040
Yeah.
00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:35.360
So uh Andrew Taylor Still, AT Still, he uh lived during the uh latter half of the uh 19th century in the 18 uh 70s was when he uh discovered or or kind of identified and established osteopathic medicine as um a new form of medicine.
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And you're right, he was an MD, but we have to go back and back then, um becoming an MD or becoming a physician back then was uh in the form of an apprenticeship.
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And so his father before him was actually a physician, and so he, as he became an adult, uh apprenticed under his father.
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And and then uh back then it was just simply a matter of dad taking A.T.
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still down to the courthouse and and uh his father giving a statement that I have trained my son in uh or this person in the arts of uh becoming a physician, and that is your degree in essence at that time.
00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:11.519
And so that was a different time, different era, right?
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And so, but uh he went on to um you know be involved as a physician and surgeon during um the Civil War.
00:05:19.120 --> 00:05:22.639
And and then after that, he um, you know, continued to practice.
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And a lot of his practice was obstetrics, actually helping to deliver babies.
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Um, and so uh after you know the Civil War and all of the surgeries that came with that, um, he continued to practice.
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And then at some point um he had lost three children um or three adopted children um from uh cases of meningitis.
00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:48.800
Um there was an epidemic of at meningitis back then, and he kind of just became very disillusioned with the treatments at the time.
00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:57.519
So again, Civil War era, we're talking about you know, amputations for facic wounds um that would become infected because antibiotics didn't exist back then.
00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:01.279
Um, it was bloodletting, it was treating people with mercury, right?
00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:10.000
Uh so it was a very, very different time in medicine as a whole, and he just really became disillusioned by it and felt there had to be a better way to care for a person.
00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:14.079
There had to be a better way to help people come back to health.
00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:17.040
And so um that's where he started to think differently.
00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:19.279
He really was a radical thinker.
00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:24.079
And um, I I think even now we take new insights into what he meant.
00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:29.680
Um he was a prolific writer, he wrote several books, um, including, you know, his own autobiography.
00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:36.959
And it was something where you see just different ways to interpret all of those different um thoughts and and ideas that he had even now.
00:06:37.199 --> 00:06:40.800
Yeah, and you know, maybe not as extreme, but we get when we talk about health.
00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:52.079
I mean, there's a lot of you know, the social media influencer and all that world, there are a lot of conversations today that are going on about are are we sure that the these traditional methods are the best way to do things?
00:06:52.319 --> 00:07:02.319
And I think the idea of osteopathic medicine, a a focus on wellness, diet, exercise, mental health, emotional health, those are all things that are pretty popular.
00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:06.959
And when when we explain that to people, it's like that sounds like a really good thing.
00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:17.920
Yeah, and and that's really where it seems like we've been almost playing this long game as osteopathic physicians, where we've been talking about this for, you know, almost 150 years at this point.
00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:26.800
Um, and yet just now we're starting to see the you know, the general public turn and see the the power in some of these things.
00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:37.279
Um, and that's really been something that, again, Andrew Taylor still has been preaching and and and trying to practice and teach others to practice since, you know, again, back into the late 1800s.
00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:40.000
So I want to go back to that philosophy idea.
00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:42.560
Uh, we hear about the tenets of osteopathic medicine.
00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:45.279
That's kind of the if uh he if Dr.
00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:53.680
Still had to write uh four bullet points about what he saw differently, how he was going to try to move medicine forward, do things differently.
00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:55.600
Uh, we've got those lined out.
00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:00.399
Can you share those with us and kind of how they they play into how an osteopathic physician is trained?
00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:01.360
Of course, of course.
00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:14.319
So um the four tenets um were derived from uh Andrew Taylor Still's teachings, and we identified them as the first being the body is a unit, and that a person is a unit of body, mind, and spirit.
00:08:14.639 --> 00:08:27.519
Another way to say this is that we need to look at the person as a whole person, not just that the person has a, you know, their liver and their gallbladder, and we need to treat the issue that is going on in their liver or gallbladder.
00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:30.800
No, it's seeing the person as a whole and taking care of that whole person.
00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:38.559
The second tenet is where the body is capable of self-regulation, self-healing, um, and self-maintenance.
00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:43.919
And that's really just to acknowledge that our body is capable of doing a lot of things on its own.
00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:55.360
And, you know, we see that just in the simplest form of what happens when you have a you know a scrape on your knee, or what happens after surgery, or the only reason why we can do surgery is because our body's capable of healing.
00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:56.960
So that's the second tenet.
00:08:57.039 --> 00:09:02.159
The third tenet is that structure and function are reciprocally interrelated.
00:09:02.240 --> 00:09:02.399
Okay.
00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:15.279
Um if something's not um built right, if if you've if you've got a board falling down on your fence, your whole fence is gonna can fall apart, or you're it creates uh I g I guess I don't know if that's a great analogy, but you know where I'm going there.
00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:20.559
I've I've got a pretty good one, and it's a it's funny and it's really obvious, but I think it illustrates the point.
00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:36.879
And uh an example of this is let's say that um I'm trying to um you know do some significant yard work around my yard and and I need to go to a a um a you know a local nursery or or a store to get uh a lot of mulch.
00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:41.360
We're talking, you know, not just a bag of mulch, but you know, a whole load of mulch, right?
00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:44.000
And and I show up and I've got a Toyota Prius.
00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:50.960
Well, the structure of a Toyota Prius doesn't really fit the function of being able to haul that much mulch back to my house.
00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:51.120
Yeah.
00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:54.080
That's gonna be 20, 30 trips at minimum.
00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:57.519
If I can even, how do I get the mulch in the tr in the Prius, right?
00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:03.679
So a structure that would be more appropriate for that function would be a truck with an open bed, right?
00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:16.799
So it's an obvious example and it's it's silly, and I always chuckle at it, but it does illustrate the point that our body has various structures, and those structures formed in a purpose to serve some function, right?
00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:21.360
Every bone in our body um developed in a way that serves some function.
00:10:21.519 --> 00:10:27.919
Um, a lot of our bones uh as we grow during childhood, change in terms of where muscles are attached.
00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:32.000
So they become more strong and prominent in certain areas where muscles are attaching.
00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:39.279
And that's because that part of the bone was always meant to serve the function of being the site for muscle attachment, right?
00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:42.879
And so it's also looking at, well, if the structure is impaired, right?
00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:48.240
So, like you mentioned, if a board falls uh on a on a uh fence or a tree falls on a fence, right?
00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:50.639
It disrupts the structure of the fence.
00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:54.320
Well, what if something is impeding the flow of blood?
00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:59.440
That's another thing where the structure of the body is now impeding the flow, which is the function.
00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:01.759
So we now have less blood flow to an area.
00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:08.720
That area can't receive the nutrients, the oxygen, the other uh aspects that it needs to be a healthy tissue, right?
00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:08.960
Yeah.
00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:12.720
So um, that's the third tenet, uh, structure and function.
00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:25.679
And then the fourth tenet is that rational treatment is based on the principles of self-regulation, of the body is a unit, the person is a unit of body, mind, and spirit, and the idea of structure and function.
00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:32.320
So, in essence, that we base the rational treatment on a for a patient on those three above tenets that we just described.
00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:40.960
One thing that I always try to point out in these discussions is there are a lot of similarities between an osteopathic and an allopathic physician, a DO and an MD.
00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:47.120
There are significant um similarities, but there are some distinct differences.
00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:58.000
And, you know, one of the things, again, that I try to point out is DOs do prescribe medicine, uh, they do perform surgery if they're trained appropriate, they can be trained appropriately to do that.
00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:06.240
Um, but they're also trained with that mindset, like you were talking about, that those are not the first places to always go.
00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:10.960
Let's look at a step back, look at a big picture and see if there's a another way to do this.
00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:12.240
Is that yeah?
00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:22.639
And and that's where um I gave an example earlier about, you know, doing OMT or OM OMM uh as a way to augment a child's ear infection treatment, right?
00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:30.639
Um, if I have a child who has an ear infection, I'm still going to prescribe them an antibiotic because that's the appropriate intervention that they need.
00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:39.679
But I also am going to maybe perform again a hands-on treatment that helps to influence the lymphatic drainage or the drainage of that fluid in that middle ear.
00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:42.240
So again, it's something that we do both.
00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:45.919
It's not an exclusive, we only do this or we only do that.
00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:54.559
And um that's where I some of my best friends from uh from my medical school uh are now a vascular surgeon and an uh Obi-Guyne.
00:12:54.639 --> 00:13:03.039
Uh, and that's where you know they both come into it where yes, they are surgeons and and they are going to perform uh, you know, surgeons just like an MD would.
00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:08.559
Um, but they also might approach a patient in that initial, you know, uh consult differently.
00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:18.080
They might think differently about, well, is surgery really the best thing for this person, or do they need to address some other things before we do surgery?
00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:22.240
Um, so that's kind of the way I talk about it with patients.
00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:31.039
And and just to remind them that again, in our country, we we have the same rights, privileges, and responsibilities as any other MD or allopathic physician.
00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:35.200
And so we are still in the hospitals, we are in the clinics, we are in ERs.
00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:39.039
Um, and not every DO, unfortunately, does hands-on treatment.
00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:47.440
Um, that's something that we're hoping to change, of course, uh, because it is something that it's such a wonderful uh uh benefit to our patients.
00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:53.759
But it's also something where, you know, like my friends who are are surgeons, you know, their skills lie elsewhere, right?
00:13:53.840 --> 00:14:03.279
And so we have to acknowledge that some um some DOs also just have incredible skills that um we need to utilize them and let them thrive in in whatever world they find themselves in.
00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:06.879
And um, but again, we'll continue to talk about the hands-on aspect of this too.
00:14:07.039 --> 00:14:17.840
Yeah, and that's why we wanted to specifically help our future students, our perspective students, understand the distinctions, the distinctions between osteopathic and allopathic medicine specifically.
00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:23.279
But OMM is a big part of that, uh, especially from the curriculum standpoint.
00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:26.480
Curricularly, uh is that is that a word?
00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:30.080
I'll make it sound, I'll say it confidently so it sounds like it.
00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:40.000
But from a curriculum standpoint, the only thing that is different between the what our students have to study is the practice of OMM.
00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:42.399
It's about 200 extra hours in their education.
00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:50.399
I know you hit on it briefly, but explain a little bit more how it's the hands-on treatment, how you use your hands to treat and diagnose.
00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:50.879
Yeah.
00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:55.840
And you're right, it is really the primary difference when you look at a curriculum on paper, right?
00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:04.159
Um, there's some other subtle differences in maybe how we present some lectures that you might have an asthma lecture that's given in an MD or allopathic school.
00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:13.360
Um, and it might cover a lot of the same things that we cover in an asthma lecture at our school, but there might also be some additional components to that asthma lecture that are more specific to us.
00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:15.600
But again, we cover the same topics, right?
00:15:15.679 --> 00:15:21.039
We need to teach medicine that as we know it in terms of all the various patient conditions and diseases.
00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:23.919
Um, but then the biggest difference, like you said, is 200 hours.
00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:26.399
And that's not a small number for those listening.
00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:31.120
It is a really significant investment in time because it is hands-on.
00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:32.639
You have to experience it.
00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:36.320
It's not something that you can just hit two times speed and watch a video about.
00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:46.000
Um, and so in our labs, you know, we we have uh tables that uh each student is paired up with another student and you're performing hands-on diagnosis and treatment.
00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:49.600
And the the simplest way I describe this as patients is I'm going to use my hands.
00:15:49.679 --> 00:16:05.919
I'm gonna palpate and feel things with my hands on your body in terms of whether it's the shoulder and feeling the motion of the shoulder joint, or whether it's feeling the tension in the muscles, or whether I find that I can't get the same um mobility of a joint.
00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:10.080
Um, and so those are uh some of the basics of how we describe this.
00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:21.679
And as we teach this, we kind of move region to region in terms of we start in the thoracic spine and we go through how to diagnose the thoracic spine with uh what we call somatic dysfunctions.
00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:24.720
And somatic dysfunction just means body dysfunction.
00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:34.000
And what that means is that there is something related to the structure of the thoracic spine that it has been altered that now is creating dysfunction somewhere.
00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:40.399
That can be something as simple as a slight twist to the spine that isn't perfectly neutral.
00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:55.039
Um, it could be that one side of the muscles on uh the spine that help to allow us to sit up or to uh slouch down is now really, you know, dysfunctional, intense, and hypertonic on one side, but not on the other.
00:16:55.200 --> 00:17:01.200
Um, so those are some examples of as we start that thoracic spine unit, and then we move into how do we treat that.
00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:06.079
So I always tell patients we have about 10 different styles or techniques that we teach.
00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:10.720
And in the first year, we'll um generally cover about three of those technique styles.
00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:17.119
And then in the second year is when we really expand and fill out the rest of those technique styles in various ways.
00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:23.599
But um the first year is a very strong core of what you need to know um as you go uh go on to your next years.
00:17:23.680 --> 00:17:32.319
But um, second year is really where we get to apply it and bring in the nuance of, well, maybe this treatment style isn't the right uh right one for this patient.
00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:34.400
But here, let's let's talk about this style.
00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:42.559
And that's where some of these techniques might seem very very familiar or or that you might observe and think, well, I maybe I've seen that before.
00:17:42.640 --> 00:17:49.759
And and maybe you have, because we don't have an exclusive, you know, rights on on manual treatment or hands-on treatment.
00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:58.640
We just have our 10 styles of treatments, and some of them can have some similarities with other hands-on treatments that you might see by a physical therapist, for example.
00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:12.559
Um, but it's something where uh again, we have those 10 styles, and some of them are very gentle and and very um, you know, I always say that sometimes patients will, you know, when I tell them that they're done, they'll ask, wait, what did you exactly do?
00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:15.279
Because it really wasn't very noticeable to them.
00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:25.039
Um, so sometimes it can be that subtle and that gentle, and other times it might be that we are really positioning the patient in a in a lot more motion and having them actually do something to help us.
00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:27.279
So you mentioned other touch therapy.
00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:28.400
I want to I want to go there.
00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:38.079
You didn't say chiropractor, but I think when people hear OMM and adjustment and moving and, you know, again, touch therapy, that's one of the places that they go to.
00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:39.039
And I believe Dr.
00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:42.640
Still had some close relationships with chiropractors.
00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:44.160
Can you kind of flesh that out for us?
00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:44.640
Yeah.
00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:51.920
And so, yeah, like like I said, it's something where they also perform manual treatment, they perform hands-on treatment, they have their own style.
00:18:52.000 --> 00:19:04.559
And and actually the the founder uh of the chiropractic uh uh thought process or treatment style was actually in Andrew Taylor Still's first class of of uh osteopathy.
00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:08.000
And so it's it's really where there was some connection there.
00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:19.279
But um, that student and ended up leaving and did not complete his his um training with AT still, and he moved on and and had some of his own ideas that he wanted to flesh out and develop, and that's what he did.
00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:26.559
And so that's where we kind of have a divergence there, and that's why there's some similarities, but again, that they're distinct, they're still different.
00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:32.960
Um, but again, they might seem familiar for somebody in the general public because there is just the differences are subtle sometimes.
00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:49.920
Well, and one thing, again, I always try to point out in this conversation when I have it with people, and I'm not at the level of expert that someone who's gone through the education, but chiropractors are not medical doctors, so their scope is a lot more limited than what an osteopathic physician does.
00:19:50.079 --> 00:20:00.880
And can you know, an osteopathic physician can perform that touch therapy, but also has that full scope of prescribing uh full panel of medicine and all those things.
00:20:00.960 --> 00:20:01.839
Is that yeah?
00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:08.160
I I the way I describe that to patients sometimes is we operate from a medical diagnosis, right?
00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:20.559
As DOs, that is one of the primary things that really differentiates us from anybody else who does hands-on therapy is I may see a patient and I'm gonna hear their complaint, I'm gonna take their history, I'm gonna do a physical exam.
00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:24.640
And let's say it's a a patient with low back pain that radiates down their leg.
00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:38.160
And let's say we do that workup, I do my exam, and I'm concerned that they have what we would refer to as lumbar ridiculopathy, or that there's a potential nerve impingement that is happening as the spine, a spinal nerve exits that vertebral body of the spine.
00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.359
And and that means that, okay, well, what do we do about that, right?
00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:44.400
I'm gonna come to my diagnosis, I'm gonna make a plan of treatment.
00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:48.160
And that plan of treatment is going to include potentially imaging.
00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:54.960
Um, it may include physical therapy, referring to physical therapy for various, you know, rehab type uh programs.
00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:59.680
It also may include hands-on therapy where I recommend OMM or OMT.
00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:14.160
And and when I describe that to patients, it's my manual treatment may not change in terms of directly having an impact on that nerve root, you know, but I can't reach into you and change that nerve route, right?
00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:18.400
But I can change the the structures around that spine.
00:21:18.559 --> 00:21:21.599
I can change the tension maybe in the muscles around that spine.
00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:35.359
I can help to maybe alleviate some of that pressure or help to strengthen our body's resiliency to help, you know, bring about better healing in the again, maybe through PT or whether they do need to consider something like a therapeutic injection.
00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:41.200
So again, I prescribed OMT for the diagnosis of lumbar ridiculopathy.
00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:42.319
That's where I came from.
00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:47.680
Whereas other forms of manual treatment are generally based on a complaint.
00:21:47.920 --> 00:21:52.480
My back hurts, my neck hurts, and and perform some treatment on it from there.
00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:52.880
Yeah.
00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:59.200
And that goes back to the whole osteopathy physicians look at a big picture, and there's a lot of pieces to that puzzle.
00:21:59.359 --> 00:21:59.519
Right.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:00.240
Exactly.
00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:00.480
Yep.
00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:02.799
And that's where again, it's just that's where we operate from.
00:22:02.960 --> 00:22:12.720
We we come into it as we are still physicians, we still come to a diagnosis, we still teach again all the same, you know, styles of how do I ask questions?
00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:14.400
How do I get the history from the patient?
00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:22.000
How do I perform exam in terms of listening to the heart and lungs, to doing uh other tests and palpation of the abdomen?
00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:32.960
Um, so all of those things still come into play, but it just I have the ability to also perform that hands-on manual treatment to help a patient in whatever capacity I feel is appropriate.
00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:45.200
One of the simple explanations I was given early on when I was new to osteopathic medicine, just when I came to work here, was uh I was told that a lot of patients that have carpal tunnel pain or receive OMT for that.
00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:50.559
That that's a pretty easy way for me to understand if you're able to manipulate that joint, relieve the pressure.
00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:52.640
Is that one that you go to kind of explain?
00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:56.319
Yeah, so that's a really common condition is carpal tunnel syndrome, right?
00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:58.720
And so that's a a low-hanging fruit, right?
00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:02.559
Yeah, where you know a lot of people know what that is, and a lot of people know what that feels like.
00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:08.640
Well, that's something where, sure, there's you know, various techniques that can be used or treatments that can be used to treat that, right?
00:23:08.720 --> 00:23:15.039
There can be bracing or splinting at night um to help relieve some of that improper positioning of the wrist.
00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:17.839
Um, it could progress all the way to surgery, right?
00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:22.720
The thing is, though, is that sometimes surgery isn't a permanent fix, right?
00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:28.240
And so really it's a space problem, it's an anatomy problem, is what carpal tunnel syndrome usually comes down to.
00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:34.400
And and so if there's changes to the structure again, like we mentioned, it maybe impeding the blood flow, right?
00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:38.799
Well, how what if we impede the the natural flow of the nerve impulses?
00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:42.640
And that's where we can get those pain or nerve tingling sensations.
00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:53.759
And so, can I perform treatment at the wrist or or even higher up to help to relieve relieve or alleviate that uh type of dysfunction and then restore that patient to normal function?
00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:54.960
Yeah, awesome.
00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:56.640
Well, what are some other things?
00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:04.240
Uh you mentioned constipation that you're able to manipulate to to provide that touch therapy to get your bowels flowing.
00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:10.960
That's often what are some other kind of common, you said low-hanging fruit, like yeah, easy for dummies like me to understand how that's applied.
00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:18.799
So um constipation is a a a great example because it's something that's applicable in kids, but also something that's applicable even in older adults.
00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:23.119
And so, even something as simple as a patient that's admitted to the hospital, right?
00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:31.279
And let's say they have a pneumonia, okay, um, but they're not moving, they're they're in a hospital bed, they're not getting up and walking as much because they're so ill.
00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:36.720
Well, our gut relies on our own bodily movements to help move stool around, right?
00:24:36.799 --> 00:24:40.720
And so if we're not moving things, then how do we help facilitate that?
00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:52.160
And that's where just doing some um, you know, attractioning of the colon uh to help move the stool along is one way to help alleviate that uh in somebody who's maybe bedraiding or in a hospital bed.
00:24:52.240 --> 00:25:05.039
But it can also be used in a you know, in an infant where we don't really have medications other than, you know, ounce of fruit juice, a prune juice, things like that, um, which again works great for a lot of a lot of liquidos, but uh it's something where sometimes that's not enough.
00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:17.839
And so even just being able to palpate and help their developing gut kind of do better at moving stool around, especially uh in the that six-month range when they start to get introduced to new foods and their gut's really trying to sort out.
00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:26.880
Well, that's a great way to be able to help uh uh kids get you know relief from that, you know, pressure and and that uh you know painful type of uh of bowel movement.
00:25:26.960 --> 00:25:31.119
So is there any other kind of commonality things we think of all the time?
00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:32.960
Well, uh uh headaches.
00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:39.759
Um, we have a faculty member who has received some NIH funding to study OMM treatment for migraines.
00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:45.599
That's a pretty common absolutely headaches, migraines are very, very common uh conditions.
00:25:45.680 --> 00:26:02.799
Um, it's something where uh we can perform treatments not only on the head, but also on the neck, which is uh really a primary source of a lot of uh tension type headaches, but even we're finding out more and more just how much tension in the neck and shoulder and the upper back region can contribute to migraine onset or migraine triggers, right?
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:14.240
And so that's where if we find somatic dysfunction in in those regions, and then we can help facilitate that, it can serve not only as a treatment for headaches and migraines, but can also be done on a preventative basis as well.
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:25.200
So that's where, you know, I'm I'm even seeing uh uh a young female who's uh currently pregnant and she had been on a medication for migraines, which is not uh recommended during pregnancy.
00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:35.119
And really her migraines are pretty well under control, but that's where being pregnant, she's now been having more and haven't haven't been able to use the medications that she normally would.
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:43.680
Well, she's come to me and she's come on a fairly consistent basis where she doesn't always wait until things get bad again in terms of the migraines becoming more frequent.
00:26:43.839 --> 00:26:47.680
She really gets a lot of relief from me just treating the neck, shoulders, and upper back.
00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:53.359
Um, and that kind of gets her for um, I want to say the last time I saw her was maybe two, three months ago now.
00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:59.359
And so we're almost to the end of our pregnancy at this point, but she'll come back and and be better than what she was the last time.
00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:09.359
But it's just something we're having that little bit of a touch point and check-in and being able to address that can help prevent migraines for her for another, you know, two to three months and get through the rest of her pregnancy.
00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:12.960
From an education standpoint, what can our future students expect?
00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:20.160
And I know you got into it a little bit about you teach certain techniques, but how do you kind of introduce them to the OMM lab when they get there?
00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:20.720
Yeah.
00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:27.440
So um the cool, the coolest part about the OMM lab is from day one, we are doing patient care, right?
00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:33.519
We are teaching you how to care for patients from day one in the OMM lab, which is different than a lot of your other courses, right?
00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:39.359
Um, a lot of your other courses, you don't really get into some of the treatments until later on, maybe that first semester.
00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:43.599
Um, but that's where from day one, we're teaching you how to interact with patients, how to help patients.
00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:56.079
Um, and it's just this great uh, you know, kind of learning curve that you see where the the ability to palpate, you know, and the and the sense of palpation that the students will develop over time and how much better it gets over the first few months.
00:27:56.160 --> 00:28:06.079
Um, but really it's something where if you come into it with just an open mind and understanding that there is a path that we we know where you will you'll travel through.
00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:13.359
And so trust that, you know, when we uh you know ask you to practice these things in a certain way, it's because we want to develop those skills.
00:28:13.519 --> 00:28:28.720
And and you'll look back just like most of us and and you know, kind of laugh at how you know, maybe uh inexperienced or or almost, you know, uh kind of feebly you tried the first few weeks and and just how much better it got within just even a few months.
00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:43.279
And so really just having that open mind and and really being eager to learn because we're not only gonna teach you OMM, we're also gonna talk about the anatomy of the body because that's one of the biggest principles that drive again the structure and function.
00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:47.519
So um it's really a great lab that really puts a lot of pieces together.
00:28:47.599 --> 00:28:53.359
And um, like I said, really from day one, it's it we're teaching you how to be a physician, an osteopathic physician.
00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:58.000
Our our OMM lab, there's a lot of skeletal models uh all over the the building.
00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:01.359
So I kind of plays into it's a build on that anatomy.
00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:05.279
You're constantly learning this is where that is, this is what that is, this is how it works.
00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:06.079
Yeah, exactly.
00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:16.559
And so that's where, yes, full skeletons, but we also have lots of other various anatomy models um to help maybe illustrate the motions of a joint or or where the attachments of certain muscles or ligaments are.
00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:21.680
Um and that and that's where we use models when we need to, but we also just demonstrate techniques, right?
00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:25.279
So I'm gonna show you how to do this uh myself.
00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:27.440
I'm gonna perform a diagnosis.
00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:32.160
I'm gonna perform the treatment on one of uh the students and and demonstrate it in front of you.
00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:38.880
And we have cameras uh of various angles so that we can give you different perspectives where we have multiple camera angles all at the same time.
00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:44.480
So you can see, you know, oh, I see how that, you know, compares to where I am standing.
00:29:44.559 --> 00:29:45.440
Okay, that makes sense.
00:29:45.599 --> 00:29:56.319
And then we have the ability to throw on multiple TVs, we can throw up anatomy pictures to help maybe uh uh elicit, you know, this is what you're feeling under your hands as you're moving this patient in that position.
00:29:56.799 --> 00:29:59.519
Is there any common misconceptions about OMM?
00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:04.559
Or I guess probably the biggest inhibitor is you know, we're the first DO school in Arkansas.
00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:14.240
We've had osteopathic physicians practicing in Arkansas for a hundred years, but I mean, in in the mass quantities that they've seen in the last 10 years, now we have two DO schools in Arkansas.
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:20.400
I think some of the concepts of osteopathic medicine, the principles of OMM are new to a lot of people who live around here.
00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:24.799
So is education maybe that biggest kind of um hurdle, you think?
00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:34.400
Yeah, I I think really it's helping just to uh give people that lens of why things might be a little different coming from a DO versus an MD.
00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:52.960
Um, and sometimes that is more uh more distinct when we're talking about the hands-on treatment in OMM, just because they may have in their head what that looks like in in some sense, whether that's a chiropractor or a physical therapist or something, but it also might be that they just well, what is what does DO even stand for, right?
00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:56.880
Um and so sometimes they're pretty easy barriers to break down.
00:30:56.960 --> 00:31:05.519
And uh a lot of patients, even if I'm meeting them for the first time and and we're talking about how I can help them, it's something we're just walking them through it.
00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:13.839
And it's something where I I probably have these conversations about, well, here's what I'm going to try to accomplish by doing this technique for you.
00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:19.359
Um, here's how I'm gonna use my hands or place my hands, and and this is what I need you to do to help me.
00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:31.599
Um, it's something where a lot of patients just walking them through those basics is something that really helps them to connect and understand and really just have a better sense of why they feel some of the things that they do.
00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:43.359
And that's really one of the the great benefits of of you know helping patients is sometimes I don't need a MRI or or a lab test to help a patient understand why they're feeling a certain way.
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:49.599
Sometimes it's just helping them understand, again, their own body, the structure of their body, how it's supposed to function.
00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:54.880
And even just teaching them about that is something that really is sometimes very life-altering and life-changing for them.
00:31:55.039 --> 00:31:55.359
Well, Dr.
00:31:55.440 --> 00:31:58.160
Cornick, we certainly appreciate your insight, your perspective.
00:31:58.319 --> 00:31:59.599
This has been really informative.
00:31:59.680 --> 00:32:04.160
And uh, we hope you've enjoyed listening to the More Than a Medical School podcast.
00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:13.279
And we tried to help you to understand a little bit more about osteopathic medicine and what a great way it is to serve patients and to teach future physicians.
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:20.480
So you can learn more about our medical school by visiting us online at nyit.edu slash Arkansas.
00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:27.200
Our social media channels are at NYITCOM AR for NYIT COM Arkansas.
00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:29.200
We hope you've enjoyed our conversation.
00:32:29.359 --> 00:32:31.279
We look forward to meeting with you the next time.
00:32:31.359 --> 00:32:32.400
Thanks so much.
