As an osteopathic physician, I am trained in manual medicine in addition to traditional allopathic medicine. This includes osteopathic principles handed down by the profession’s founder, Dr Andrew Taylor Still such as the concept that the body can heal itself, and structure and function are irrevocably linked. The smartphone landscape has had a number of video based apps over the years including the excellent ACOFP DO OMT, iOrtho (reviewed here on iMedicalApps) and the OMT Spine family of apps. A recent addition to the osteopathic app landscape is the Osteopathy PocketCard by Borm Bruckmeier Publishing. We have reviewed a number of their apps previously. The osteopathy app author is an osteopathic physician at Liberty University Osteopathic College of Medicine.

Clinical Scenario:
You are an osteopathic physician evaluating a patient with low back pain in clinic. You think the patient may have a left on left sacral torsion, but are not sure you have correctly interpreted your osteopathic structural exam correctly. Furthermore, you can’t quite remember the ideal position to have the patient in for muscle energy treatment of this particular somatic dysfunction. Let’s see if the osteopathy app can help you out.

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Evidence based medicine
The Osteopathy Pocketcard app includes a number of “cards” on osteopathic principles and practices including the osteopathic structural exam and common joint exams and neuro exams. These include maps of nerve innervations, reflexes, etc. It does not reference any specific articles or contain any evidence for osteopathic principles or treatments. .

What providers would benefit from this App?
Osteopathic students and residents, and practicing osteopathic physicians who desire a review of the basic tenets and exam findings within osteopathic medicine.

Disclaimer: The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policy of the Department of the Army, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

  • Price
    • $4.99
    • Easy to swipe “cards” of information.
    • Nice review of osteopathic principles and practices.
    • Written by a reputable source.
  • Dislikes
    • Limited functionality as no information on treatment.
    • No high quality images, models or videos of conditions presented.
    • Not enough detail on many of the included cards.
  • Overall

    An interesting app that contains some information on osteopathic principles and practices not found in other OMT apps, but overall not recommended due to the lack of information about treatments.

  • Overall Score
  • User Interface

    Basic pocketcard interface like most of the Born Bruckmeier apps.

  • Multimedia Usage

    App lacks any true multimedia functions. It does contain some pictures, tables, and charts, but are overall of basic quality.

  • Price

    App is $4.99 which is cheaper than any of the apps the offer video files of OMT/OMM, but the lack of the most basic information on treatment significantly limits the utility of the app.

  • Real World Applicability

    Good review of basic information for students and residents, but lacks the much needed information on performance of specific OMM treatments.

  • Device Used For Review

    iPhone 6 running iOS 8.4

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