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To the Editor:
After reading the article on Management of Chronic Rhinosinusitis by Adarsh Gupta, DO, MS, and Ashmit Gupta, MD, MPH, in the January/February 2010 issue of Osteopathic Family Physician, I am disappointed that there is no mention of utilizing OMM in the management of this common complaint. The authors state in the “Managing chronic rhinosinusitis” section: “The goal of medical management is to . . . promote drainage and a more normal nasal environment.”
After all, isn’t one of Andrew Taylor Still’s basic tenets of osteopathy to return the body’s structure and function?
Many techniques for the sinuses promote drainage, thus reducing the tenderness and pain patients experience. In the “Adjunctive therapy” section, the authors discuss utilization of nasal saline irrigation or lavage and they even provide a website link for video instruction; however, osteopathic treatment is not even mentioned in passing.
It is increasingly difficult to keep our students within our profession after graduation. Often during their third and fourth years, they are rarely exposed to osteopathic manipulative medicine if they see it at all in the hospital. For that reason, I find it troubling that this article is written by an osteopathic physician who is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine in a well known osteopathic medical school. If our students are not being trained to use their manipulation skills for common complaints while they are in our medical schools, how can we hope to engage them later?
I hope this letter will stimulate the editorial staff to take a closer look at what is being presented in the journal, making sure that it embraces our osteopathic heritage and uniqueness along with providing current treatment strategies. And I further encourage the editorial staff to present information and articles on the use of osteopathic manipulative care on a regular basis— our patients will be the ones who benefit the most.
Geraldine N. Urse, DO, FACOFP
Residency Director Doctors Hospital Family Practice Assistant Professor of Family Medicine
Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine
Grove City, OH