The Use of Osteopathic Palpatory Findings in Screening for Nephropathy in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Pilot Study

Curlee, Laura D., The Use of Osteopathic Palpatory Findings in Screening for Neuropathy in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Pilot Study. Master of Science, May, 2008, 100 pp., 6 tables, 9 illustrations, bibliography, 40 titles. Viscerosomatic reflexes result in somatic dysfunction, which manifests as palpatory TART changes. There are two hypotheses of this study: palpatory findings will be associated with diabetes and will be associated with renal disease. An osteopathic predoctoral fellow conducted a palpatory exam on each subject at the level of T10-L2, to feel for TART changes. The results from the palpatory exam were recorded in SPSS for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics, chi square and risk assessment were conducted. There were no statistically significant findings. Results demonstrated possible associations between type 2 diabetes mellitus and race, and tissue texture changes with control groups. Restriction of motion was found to have no difference amongst control and disease groups.