Feasibility of Using Ultrasonography to Establish Relationships Among Sacral Base Position, Sacral Sulcus Depth, Body Mass Index, and Sex

Teaching ultrasound in osteopathic medical schools

CONTEXT

An important diagnostic tool, ultrasound (US) has been incorporated into the curriculum of medical schools for more than 20 years. In the last decade, the interest in US educational research has experienced exponential growth but mostly from Medical Doctor (MD)-granted schools. The extent to which US is embedded in the curricula of the colleges of osteopathic medicine (COM) still requires a comprehensive evaluation.

OBJECTIVES

This survey is designed to evaluate the current status of US teaching in COMs with an emphasis on the inclusion of the US in osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) training.

METHODS

An anonymous, voluntary, 22-question online survey was created and administered to all COMs to collect data about the current state of US teaching. A descriptive analysis was performed to describe and summarize the final data. Fisher's exact test was utilized for the comparison of study variables.

RESULTS

We received responses from 36 of the 43 (83.7 %) COMs invited to participate in the survey, all of which had US training within their curriculum, most commonly integrated into the year 1 curriculum (86.1 %). Focused US training is incorporated into 83.3 % of these schools (30 of 36). Focused US training is covered in 83.3 % of schools (30 of 36). US is mostly taught in the anatomy course (38.8 %). US is incorporated in the OMM course in 12 of 36 schools (33.3 %). The majority of respondents feel that US training will make osteopathic students more competitive in the job market (88.9 %) and want more US in their curriculum (86.1 %). The idea that US is useful for a better understanding of the key OMM concepts is believed by 62.9 % of respondents. The major obstacle to the implementation of US in the curriculum is having appropriately trained faculty (86.1 %). The majority of the respondents did not feel that an adequate budget is a handicap to implementing US in the curriculum.

CONCLUSIONS

US is included within the curriculum of all respondents to our survey, a third of whom included US within their OMM curriculum. US is treated as a useful and important skill for future osteopathic physicians. The majority of COMs desire more US training in the curriculum. The main barrier to implementing US in the curriculum is the lack of appropriately trained faculty.

Evaluating for a correlation between osteopathic examination and ultrasonography on thoracic spine asymmetry

CONTEXT

The thoracic spine is a common area of focus in osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) for a variety of conditions. Thoracic spine somatic dysfunction diagnosis is achieved by palpating for asymmetry at the tips of the transverse processes (TPs). Previous studies reveal that instead of following the rule of threes, the TPs of a given thoracic vertebra generally align with the spinous process (SP) of the vertebra above. Ultrasonography has been widely utilized as a diagnostic tool to monitor musculoskeletal conditions; it does not utilize ionizing radiation, and it has comparable results to gold-standard modalities. In the case of thoracic somatic dysfunction, ultrasound (US) can be utilized to determine the location of each vertebral TP and its relationship with the SP. Previous studies have investigated the correlation between OMM and ultrasonography of the cervical, lumbar, and sacral regions. However, there has been no study yet that has compared osteopathic structural examination with ultrasonographic examination of the thoracic vertebral region.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the relationship between osteopathic palpation and ultrasonographic measurements of the thoracic spine by creating a study design that utilizes interexaminer agreement and correlation.

METHODS

The ClinicalTrials.gov study identifier is NCT04823637. Subjects were student volunteers recruited from the Midwestern University (MWU)-Glendale campus. A nontoxic, nonpermanent marker was utilized to mark bony landmarks on the skin. Two neuromusculoskeletal board-certified physicians (OMM1, OMM2) separately performed structural exams by palpating T2-T5 TPs to determine vertebral rotation. Two sonographers (US1, US2) separately scanned and measured the distance from the tip of the SP to the adjacent TPs of the vertebral segment below. Demographic variables were summarized with mean and standard deviation. Interexaminer agreement was assessed with percent agreement, Cohen's Kappa, and Fleiss' Kappa. Correlation was measured by Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Recruitment and protocols were approved by the MWU Institutional Review Board (IRB).

RESULTS

US had fair interexaminer agreement for the overall most prominent segmental rotation of the T3-T5 thoracic spine, with Cohen's Kappa at 0.27 (0.09, 0.45), and a total agreement percentage at 51.5%. Osteopathic palpation revealed low interexaminer agreement for the overall most prominent vertebral rotation, with Cohen's Kappa at 0.05 (0.0, 0.27), and 31.8%. Segment-specific vertebral analysis revealed slight agreement between US examiners, with a correlation coefficient of 0.23, whereas all other pairwise comparisons showed low agreement and correlation. At T4, US had slight interexaminer agreement with 0.24 correlation coefficient, and osteopathic palpation showed low interexaminer (OMM1 vs. OMM2) agreement (0.17 correlation coefficient). At T5, there was moderate agreement between the two sonographers with 0.44 (0.27, 0.60) and 63.6%, with a correlation coefficient of 0.57, and slight agreement between OMM1 and OMM2 with 0.12 (0.0, 0.28) and 42.4%, with 0.23 correlation coefficient.

CONCLUSIONS

This preliminary study of an asymptomatic population revealed that there is a low-to-moderate interexaminer reliability between sonographers, low-to-slight interexaminer reliability between osteopathic physicians, and low interexaminer reliability between OMM palpatory examination and ultrasonographic evaluation of the thoracic spine.

Ultrasonographic Evaluation of the Effect of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment on Sacral Base Asymmetry

Context

Patients with low back pain (LBP) may receive osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) to resolve or manage their pain. The indication for OMT for patients with LBP is the presence of somatic dysfunction, diagnosed using palpatory examination. Because palpatory findings commonly have poor interexaminer reliability, the current study used ultrasonography (US) to establish pre-OMT and post-OMT musculoskeletal measurements of relative asymmetry between pelvic and sacral bony landmarks.

Objective

To document objective musculoskeletal changes that occur in response to OMT using US and to compare palpatory assessment of landmark asymmetry with US assessment.

Methods

Sixty men and women aged 20 to 55 years with at least 1 episode of LBP in the past 2 weeks were assigned to a seated control, walking control, or OMT group (20 participants per group). Participants received an initial, bilateral US measurement of the skin to posterior superior iliac spine (SPSIS), skin to sacral base position (SBP), and sacral sulcus depth (SSD). Participants in seated control and OMT groups received a palpatory assessment of SBP and SSD prior to initial US assessment. After assessment, the seated control group sat in a waiting room for 30 minutes, the walking control group walked for 5 minutes, and the OMT group received OMT to address sacral base asymmetry using predominantly direct techniques for a maximum of 20 minutes. Participants then received a second US assessment of the same structures.

Results

Body mass index (BMI) was correlated with SPSIS (r=0.5, P=.001) and SBP (r=0.6, P<.001). More participants in seated control (75%) and OMT (65%) groups had an increase in asymmetry from first to second US assessment for SPSIS compared with participants in the walking control group (35%, P=.05). No significant differences were found between groups for absolute asymmetry or total change in asymmetry (all P>.10). The κ was −0.1 (95% CI, −0.2 to 0.03) for SBP and −0.01 (95% CI, −0.1 to 0.1) for SSD.

Conclusion

Musculoskeletal changes in SPSIS and SBP measurements related to OMT could not be readily identified using US. The SPSIS and SBP measurements were dependent on BMI, which may have affected the accuracy of US to detect small changes in asymmetry. Qualitative palpatory assessments did not correlate with US measurements. Further study is needed to identify US measurements that demonstrate change with OMT. (ClinicalTrials.gov number NCT02820701)