JONESBORO, Ark. – New research by Jennifer Xie, Ph.D., an associate professor of Biomedical Sciences at New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University (NYITCOM at A-State), finds that osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) could provide a viable, non-drug treatment for migraine headaches.
OMT is a set of hands-on techniques used by osteopathic physicians (D.O.s) to diagnose, treat, and prevent illness or injury. Using OMT, which is also known as osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM), a D.O. moves a patient’s muscles and joints using techniques that include stretching, gentle pressure, and resistance. The treatment, which uses the relationship between the neuromusculoskeletal system and the rest of the body to restore healing and functionality, is taught to osteopathic medical students and becomes part of their therapeutic toolkit when they graduate and become physicians.
While empirical evidence suggests that OMT may reduce the frequency and pain intensity of headache episodes and alleviate active migraines, little scientific evidence exists to demonstrate this. Now, with the support of a three-year, $428,400[1] grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Xie and her fellow researchers at NYITCOM have published scientific evidence in the journal Frontiers in Pain Research that suggests OMT could offer a worthwhile, non-drug treatment.
Xie and her team, which includes NYITCOM at A-State osteopathic manipulative medicine faculty and medical students, successfully replicated human migraine triggers and symptoms in rats, closely mirroring the neck inflammation and volatile molecules that occur in human migraines. After OMT was applied, the researchers observed positive biomarker changes in the test subjects, which indicated that the intervention helped to relieve their migraine symptoms. The findings suggest that OMT may also be an effective, migraine-fighting treatment in humans.
“These findings provide the critical groundwork for future human studies and demonstrate that D.O.s, who are the only trained and licensed professionals who can provide OMT, may be uniquely positioned to assist migraine patients,” said Xie, whose research aims to identify and test potential chronic pain treatments, with a focus on finding effective, non-opioid therapies.
The study also provided an excellent opportunity for future osteopathic physicians to hone their OMT skills while gaining invaluable research experience. NYITCOM at A-State alumni Katherine Byrd (D.O. ’21), Brandon Chung (D.O. ’21), and Caroline Gregory (D.O. ’22) participated in the study, as well as current student doctors Kaitlyn Child, Danny Fowler, Jared Burns-Martin, Mythili Sanikommu, Hallie Henderson, and Makayla Lund.
When Xie received her NIH grant in 2020, she became the first NYITCOM at A-State researcher to receive an NIH grant while employed at the medical school, which opened just four years prior. In addition, the grant has also allowed Xie and her students to research the challenges that OMT research faces. Their findings were recently published by the International Journal of Osteopathic Medicine in a second paper that provides practical solutions to help D.O.s design their clinical research.
“We are extremely proud of Dr. Xie and the groundbreaking work she’s leading,” said Shane Speights, D.O., dean of NYITCOM at A-State. “The research Dr. Xie is conducting at NYITCOM is invaluable to the Osteopathic community in demonstrating just how vital OMT can be in addressing both chronic and acute pain.”
[1] This grant was supported by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number 1R15AT011097. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
About NYITCOM at Arkansas State University: New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine at Arkansas State University, located on A-State’s Jonesboro campus, is dedicated to improving access to health care for the underserved and rural populations in Arkansas and the Mississippi Delta Region. Arkansas annually ranks near the bottom among states in overall population health status due to low health indicators including obesity, hypertension and diabetes. The state also ranks near the bottom of states in the number of active physicians per capita and in the number of primary care physicians. NYITCOM at A-State was established in 2016 with the mission of meeting the need for more physicians in this medically underserved area.
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