Global Osteopathic Treatment for Patients With NAFLD

Summary

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a complex disease that is growing more prominent around the world especially in North America because of high prevalence of overweightness and obesity. There are many factors that are associated with this illness and it does not seem to be the same in every patient. The progression of this disease can with time lead to liver cirrhosis and even primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma). Currently, the only treatment plan involves diet change and exercise.

The goal of this research is to validate that Osteopathy can optimise patient health and to potentially be another option in preventing/reducing progression of this disease. This research is important for the future of Osteopathy to educate the public and other therapists/physicians the benefits this manual therapy has to offer. Previous research has been done and shown that Osteopathy can help patients with low back pain and type two diabetes, by affecting glucose and insulin levels with manipulation of the spine and pancreas.

Another study compared one group of obese patients with chronic low back pain that just did specific exercises to another group that were given exercises as well as Osteopathic manual therapy (OMT). Results showed both groups had reduced pain, however only the group with additional OMT showed improved range of motion in the thoracic spine, and showed greater degree of improvement overall for these patients. This study shows how OMT can be effective for individuals with NAFLD for in general these patients are obese and part of their treatment regime is to exercise to lose weight. The researcher could not find any previous research on OMT contributing to weight loss, however according to the Reve Pavilion natural health clinic website (2015), OMT can improve underlying issues such as low back pain, preventing the person to exercise effectively. The researcher also hopes to gain further knowledge of this subject, and to show the benefits of collaborating Osteopathy and Allopathic medicine together to obtain optimal patient care.

Conditions

• Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Interventions

OTHER

Global Osteopathic Treatment

The study objectives is to observe a difference and improvement of liver function based on liver enzyme count from blood work after osteopathic treatments. Also to observe an improvement in the patients quality of life after receiving treatment and in their readiness to change. Osteopathy is a type of manual therapy that uses gentle manipulations taking into consideration of the whole person when treating. For example if the liver is being treated, osteopaths look for mobility, to carry out its proper function. However one will also assess its interrelationships that can influence the liver such as its neighbours, articulating structures, example the diaphragm as well as its neurological input from T5-T9 for instance.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Jenna Wilcox

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kevork Peltekian, MD, FRCPC · Division of Digestive Care & Endoscopy , Department of Medicine , Department of Surgery

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-07-31

Primary Completion

2017-11-30

Completion

2018-05-31