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Information about OMT for patients The Orthopaedic Manual/Manipulative Physical Therapy (OMT) is physical therapy specialization which uses manual techniques for assessment, treatment and prevention of neuro-musculoskeletal disorders that alter the movement or posture function. Therefore, the OMT uses a wide range of therapeutic techniques aimed at relieving pain and at optimizing the patient's functionality. That way, the following can be applied with discretion when treating by a physical therapist expert in OMT:
OMT Evaluation and Treatment Let's suppose you are a patient with a joint, muscle or nerve dysfunction and you visit a OMT expert physical therapist. In first place, the OMT physical therapist will try to have the most concrete knowledge of your injury, in order to try to understand which the cause of the dysfunction is and also in order to focus the treatment. For this, the OMT physical therapist will perform a clinical questioning so as to know, among other things, which the injuring mechanism was and which factors could have affected in it. Then, he will carry out a deep clinical examination, physical and biomechanical, using a series of manual techniques he will try to establish a physiotherapic diagnosis, which will be shared with you. In relation to this diagnosis, the OMT physical therapist will apply the techniques he thinks are appropriate for the treatment of that dysfunction, always respecting the patient's preferences and the "no pain" rule as far as possible. Before applying the techniques, the OMT physical therapist will explain you which the proceeding is, in order to obtain your consent and in some cases in order to explain how you are going to contribute actively during the application of a particular technique. During the treatment and in relation to what he perceives and what you feel it is possible that the OMT physical therapist finds out something which makes him rethink the treatment, or even the diagnosis. Once the treatment has been done, the OMT physical therapist will make the evaluation again, as he did at the beginning of the session, so as to know how the dysfunction is. Probably, you will have noticed pain relief and you will have recovered some of your functionality (in some exceptional cases, even completely in only one session). In any case, the OMT physical therapist will propose you some recommendations and will show you some therapeutic exercises that can be performed at home, with the aim of maintaining and improving the obtained effects during the treatment. Lastly, depending on your condition if he thinks it is convenient, he will make an appointment for another session. As you can see, the OMT tries to get away as far as possible from the standardized protocols, and focuses the treatment towards the patient's and the injury's features, looking into the injury from a mostly biomechanical point of view, and through an important clinical reasoning process.
Indications and contraindicationsAny disorder in joints, muscles or nervous tissue which produces pain and/or dysfunction can be treated by Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapy (OMT). The same way, there is no treatment in manual therapy, neither in general physical therapy, which is completely free from risk or complications. That's why in both cases it is important a correct evaluation which allows choosing the most appropriate treatment techniques and dismissing the application of those which entail potential risks. In any case, as indications we can list a number of disorders:
In general, any disorder with pain or dysfunction at a joint, muscle or nerve level with a mechanical source, and specially, situations arising from joint hypo or hypermobilities.
The contraindications for Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapy (OMT) are relative and depend on factors such as patient's symptoms, the pathological state, the force of the technique being applied, etc. However, we can list some absolute contraindications, mostly related with the patient's general health state:
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