Southlake, TX | Difference Between OMT and Chiropractic Treatments | Integrative Pain and Wellness

Dr. Barker: Hi, I'm Dr. Matthew Barker at Integrative Pain and Wellness Center in South Lake, Texas. And a big question that I get is what is the difference between osteopathic manipulative treatment and chiropractic treatments? So I actually grew up going to chiropractors and getting massages, so I'm very familiar. I've seen a lot of different chiropractors. I think most chiropractors are trained in treating the spine and doing the spinal adjustments, popping your neck or your back. And that's one of many techniques that I'm trained in and use on my patients if it's indicated.

Dr. Barker: But I also use techniques in to treat the fascia, the muscles, the ligaments, the organs, the cranial bones, the lymphatic system, the vascular system. And so it's a very comprehensive approach to treatment of the entire body. Often what causes the spine to become misaligned is a tight muscle or tight fascia or a tight ligament. So if you can treat those soft tissues, then often you don't have to do any spinal adjustments, because the spine will go back into place.

Dr. Barker: And then the other difference between my training and chiropractic training is I did have the full training of a medical doctor and going to medical school and all my clinical rotations and getting to see surgery. So the exposure to different pathology is a lot different between what a chiropractor's training would include, and osteopathic physician.