Once the medical history has been collected, the Osteopath moves on to the active evaluation phase, which will lead him to determine which structure and how to intervene on the patient. What does an osteopathic evaluation consist of and how is it composed?
The osteopathic evaluation consists of two phases, the first of which is identified by the execution of clinical and osteopathic tests and the second by perceptive palpation.
Clinical and osteopathic tests: during this phase the Professional aims to investigate the elasticity, deformability and motor barrier of the anatomical structures which are potentially capable of limiting the organism in its functions within the physiology, he may ask to perform active movements to evaluate the quality of movement, and passively performs tests to carefully analyze the mobility of joints, muscles, viscera and other tissues.
Perceptive palpation: in this phase the professional evaluates through touch the density, compactness and tension state of the tissues, resistance and elasticity, motility and mobility to the palpatory stimulus, all of these being expressions of biological adaptation or non-adaptation.
The acronym T.A.R.T. It identifies the key parameters of somatic dysfunction, a reference element of osteopathic practice.
Specifically, the acronym defines:
T: tenderness
A: asymmetry
R: range of motion
T: tissue texture
At the end of the evaluation the Osteopathic Professional will have identified: the tissues in distress; the facilitated segments, i.e. all those tissues which are neurologically innervated by the same vertebral segment, if in a state of hyperexcitation due to prolonged nervous stress develop a lower stimulation threshold presenting muscular hypertonia, vasoconstriction and alteration of sweating; trigger points, i.e. local areas of the muscles which, if hyper-excited, in addition to being locally painful, also radiate the pain to a specific area at a distance, will be able to set the most suitable osteopathic treatment plan for each patient.