Henwood Luke, Le Donne Monique E, Vaughn Austin, Kamil Shahir, Harrington Ava, Scott Randy
Osteopathic Medicine, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Bradenton, USA.
Family Medicine, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Bradenton, USA.
Cureus. 2024 May 9;16(5):e59983. doi: 10.7759/cureus.59983. eCollection 2024 May.
Osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is a therapy used by osteopathic physicians in various medical settings. Postoperatively, OMT can be utilized to optimize the body's function and recovery. This meta-analysis examines the efficacy of OMT in reducing the length of postoperative hospital stays. Given the significant implications of prolonged hospitalization for both patients and healthcare resources, research strategies to safely shorten this period are crucial. This meta-analysis examined five select studies that measured the length of hospital stay in postoperative patients who received OMT compared with postoperative patients who did not. A random effects model was applied in our statistical analysis to account for heterogeneity due to variations in surgical procedures, hospitals, and patient populations. Individually, three studies reported statistically significant reductions in hospital stay for OMT patients, while two did not. This meta-analysis, comprising five studies and 519 patients, found a mean difference of -2.37 days in favor of OMT; however, this finding did not reach a statistical significance (P = 0.06). The substantial heterogeneity observed (heterogeneity tau = 6.75, chi = 34.6, df = 4, P < 0.00001, I = 88%) suggests that clinical dissimilarities among the five studies may have resulted in our inconclusive findings. While OMT shows promise in postoperative care, further research with standardized protocols and more homogenous patient populations is needed to assess its true impact.
整骨手法治疗（OMT）是整骨医师在各种医疗环境中使用的一种疗法。术后，可利用OMT来优化身体功能和促进恢复。这项荟萃分析研究了OMT在缩短术后住院时间方面的疗效。鉴于延长住院时间对患者和医疗资源都有重大影响，安全缩短这一时期的研究策略至关重要。这项荟萃分析审查了五项选定研究，这些研究测量了接受OMT的术后患者与未接受OMT的术后患者的住院时间。我们在统计分析中应用了随机效应模型，以考虑由于手术程序、医院和患者群体的差异而导致的异质性。单独来看，三项研究报告称OMT患者的住院时间有统计学意义的缩短，而两项研究则没有。这项包含五项研究和519名患者的荟萃分析发现，支持OMT的平均差异为-2.37天；然而，这一发现未达到统计学意义（P = 0.06）。观察到的显著异质性（异质性tau = 6.75，卡方 = 34.6，自由度 = 4，P < 0.00001，I² = 88%）表明，五项研究之间的临床差异可能导致了我们不确定的结果。虽然OMT在术后护理中显示出前景，但需要采用标准化方案并针对更同质的患者群体进行进一步研究，以评估其真正影响。
