Cereus Osteopathic Medicine

Thrilled to be program chair for the AAO at OMED 2023!

OMED 2023 will be held on Oct. 6-8, in Orlando, Florida (Walt Disney World Dolphin/Swan Hotel)

President: Millicent King Channell, DO, MA, FAAO, FNAOME
Program Chair: Amy Joy Selwach, DO, MBA

Program Title: Dynamic Osteopathy

When you register for OMED23, you receive access to attend the in-person or virtual conference set for Oct. 6-8, plus extended on-demand access to all OMED CME sessions and programming through Dec. 31, 2023.

AAO Program Description: Many physicians struggle with appropriately providing osteopathic care for special populations, such as athletes, pediatric patients, those with pelvic floor issues (including obstetric patients), and those with other conditions limiting what type of treatment (including OMT) they can tolerate. Physicians are often unaware of additional lenses or modalities that can be used to give their patients the best care possible. This includes knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), acupuncture, the McKenzie method, and pelvic floor therapy. Very few physicians are aware of the potential benefits and the appropriate utilization of these services. Use of such modalities can drastically improve patients’ quality of life, decrease opioid use, improve pain relief, improve patient and physician satisfaction.

After this session, physicians will be able to appropriately identify populations with particular treatment needs. They will be able to choose the appropriate OMT modality to best address the patient and the concern at hand and provide competent treatment that may include OMT. Physicians will have a broader knowledge of complementary and therapeutic options to better enhance patient care. They will be able to appropriately identify which patients would benefit from these services and refer out to them. They may also provide some basic care using these modalities in their practice or pursue further education regarding these topics.

The FAO 2022 conference theme was "Women of Osteopathic Medicine". February 3rd was National Female Physicians day. A belated thank you to all our fantastic lady docs!

April Smith-Gonzalez Laura Rampil Robyn Young Loscutoff Joy Lichtenberg Allison Bardowell

What's OMT and NMM?

In my own words, OMT (Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment) is a medical procedure in which I (as a fully licensed physician) primarily use my hands (but sometimes other tools) to diagnose and treat nerves, muscles, bones, and all other parts of the body with the goal of helping with a symptom or illness that my patient is concerned about.

One of my specialties is Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine (NMM or ONMM) and the other is Family Medicine. NMM as a specialty has a core focus on the philosophy of Osteopathic Medicine (what all USA DOs have been trained in, including President Trump's current physician Sean Conley DO and Presidential nominee Joe Biden's current physician Kevin O'Connor DO).

With my additional training in this field of medicine, I primarily use gentle touch to help with a wide variety of issues. I also sometimes use injection therapy (including trigger point injections, prolotherapy, and steroid injections all with ultrasound guidance if indicated) and prescribe pharmacologic therapy, although I use as few medications as possible to help my patients achieve their optimum health. All of this is done following a lengthy personal history discussion and physical examination, in addition to reviewing/ordering essential lab work and diagnostic imaging. I personally spend at least 1 hour with every new patient during their first visit in order to fully understand their individual situation.

Of note, Dr Murray Goldstein was the first DO to serve as a director of an institute at the National Institutes of Health, and Dr Ronald R Blanck was the surgeon general of the US Army. DOs have been fully licensed physicians in the USA for decades (Mississippi was the last to grant full practicing rights in 1973 and Vermont was the first in 1896) and we actually now share a common residency system with our wonderful MD colleagues.

I am proud to be a 4th generation osteopathic physician.

Additional *accurate* information about DO's can be found here:

-https://osteopathic.org/what-is-osteopathic-medicine/osteopathic-manipulative-treatment/

-https://www.academyofosteopathy.org/what-is-osteopathy

Stay tuned as I discuss some of my most commonly seen patient issues :) Sorry for the slow posting- we are delightfully bustling!!

Cereus Osteopathic Medicine updated their address.

We are up and running! Dr Amy Selwach is thrilled to be Cocoa's local osteopath :)

Cereus Osteopathic Medicine updated their website address.