Clinical Somatic Dysfunction in Osteopathic Medicine by Bradley S. Coventry MD

Somatic dysfunction hides in plain sight during almost every primary care visit, yet most clinicians never learn to find it, name it, or treat it at the point of care. Patients arrive with neck pain after a long commute, low back pain that flares with stress, or a toddler with recurrent otitis media, and the palpatory clues sit right under the examiner's hands. Without a structured approach, those clues go unread, the visit ends with a prescription alone, and a treatable mechanical contributor is left untouched. This 2026 edition gives family medicine and primary care clinicians a complete, exam-room-ready system for osteopathic structural diagnosis and manipulative treatment. It walks through palpatory diagnosis of tissue texture change, asymmetry, restriction, and tenderness; region-by-region technique for the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral spine plus the upper and lower extremities; and the five major treatment families: muscle energy, myofascial release, high-velocity low-amplitude thrust, counterstrain, and facilitated positional release. Dedicated chapters apply OMT to the adult well visit, chronic pain, pregnancy and postpartum care, pediatrics, and cardiopulmonary and gastrointestinal disease, then close with documentation, coding, billing, and the current evidence base. • Over 45 detailed clinical illustrations with fully labeled anatomy and technique positioning • Step-by-step technique sequences for every major OMT method • A free companion video course, accessed by scanning the QR code on the final page • Practical guidance on contraindications, safety, and integrating OMT into a busy family medicine schedule Written for osteopathic medical students, DOs and MDs in primary care, residents, and allied manual medicine practitioners who want a structural diagnosis and treatment reference they can open between patients.