Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment in Stuart, Florida
Hands-on treatment from a physician, as part of your medical care
Dr. Kari Clark is a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, and she practices osteopathic manipulative medicine as part of caring for her patients. If you are looking for OMM or OMT in Stuart or elsewhere on the Treasure Coast, it is available here alongside your regular medical care rather than as a separate appointment somewhere else.
What Is Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment?
Osteopathic manipulative treatment, usually shortened to OMT, is hands-on treatment performed by a physician. Using her hands, Dr. Clark examines how your muscles, joints, and connective tissue are moving, finds areas that are restricted or not working as they should, and applies gentle pressure, stretching, or resistance to help restore normal motion.
Osteopathic manipulative medicine, or OMM, is the broader discipline that OMT comes out of. The two terms are often used interchangeably.
What a DO Is, and Why It Matters Here
A Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine is a fully licensed physician. DOs complete four years of medical school, then residency, and they diagnose conditions, order testing, prescribe medication, and perform procedures exactly as MDs do. Dr. Clark is board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease, and Interventional Cardiology.
The difference is additional training. Osteopathic medical education includes several hundred hours of instruction in the musculoskeletal system and in manual treatment, and it emphasizes how the body’s structure and function affect one another. That training is what allows Dr. Clark to offer OMT herself rather than referring you elsewhere for it.
What OMT Is Commonly Used For
OMT is most often used for musculoskeletal complaints. Patients commonly seek it for:
- Low back pain and neck pain
- Stiffness and restricted range of motion
- Tension headaches
- Shoulder, hip, and joint discomfort
- Postural strain, including the kind that builds up from desk work
- Musculoskeletal pain during and after pregnancy
The evidence base is strongest for low back pain, which has been studied most thoroughly. For other complaints the research is more limited, and Dr. Clark will tell you honestly whether she thinks manual treatment is likely to help or whether something else is the better first step. OMT is one tool among several, not a substitute for diagnosis.
What to Expect
Dr. Clark will ask about your symptoms and history, then examine you by hand, feeling for asymmetry, restriction, and changes in tissue texture. Treatment itself is usually gentle. Depending on what she finds she may use stretching, sustained pressure, positioning that allows a muscle to release, or a controlled movement of a joint.
Most people find it comfortable. It is common to feel looser afterward, and also fairly common to feel mildly sore for a day or so, the way you might after unfamiliar exercise. Some complaints settle after one or two visits; others do better with treatment spaced out over time.
Treatment in Context
The advantage of receiving OMT from your own physician is that nothing is treated in isolation. If your back pain turns out not to be mechanical, Dr. Clark is the person who can investigate it. If it is mechanical, she can treat it and also address the strength and conditioning that will keep it from recurring, which connects directly to how she approaches metabolic health and exercise.
Coverage for OMT varies by plan. Please call (772) 208-6053 to check your benefits, or to ask about self-pay cost before your visit.
Schedule a visit
Our office is at 1001 SE Ocean Blvd, Suite 105 in Stuart, open Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. New and established patients can schedule by calling (772) 208-6053. You can also read more about Dr. Kari Clark.
