Osteopathy and a Flu Pandemic

A couple of years ago I attended an Osteopathic Manipulation Conference in which David Teitelbaum, DO, was lecturing about the history of the Spanish Flu of 1917-1918.  Did you know that 6% of all people who contracted the Spanish Flu died, but only 1/4 of 1% (0.25%) of those treated with Osteopathic Manipulation died?  During the lecture Dr. Teitelbaum refreshed our memories of the Osteopathic Manipulative techniques utilized almost 100 years ago. 

Many of you will recognize these techniques as ones I've used on you and your loved ones. I often use them with respiratory infections, it works for all of them.  Some of you will recognize that I have taught you these techniques to use if necessary. For you, this is a refresher!  I decided that adding Dr. Teitelbaum's introduction and a link to his teaching videos are now important and timely.

Below is Dr. Teitelbaum's introduction page.  Click on the title to the introduction for the link to his teaching videos.  I strongly recommend that you become very familiar with these techniques NOW as his website may become overloaded when the next influenza pandemic comes.  (Please note, the videos were created as the Bird Flu Pandemic was of utmost concern, but the information is very timely with the current concern for the H1N1 flu.)

If your family or friends are hit with the flu during a pandemic, you may be the ONLY person available to help them.  By learning these Osteopathic Manipulation techniques, you may be the reason they survive.

- Eva Shay, DO

“Survive the Bird Flu Pandemic With Osteopathy”

Medical experts agree that the world is due for a Flu Pandemic. The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1917 killed 500,000 people in the United States and over 50 million worldwide. Yet, during that pandemic, those treated with Osteopathic manipulation were 25 times more likely to survive than those treated by conventional means alone.

The reason for the difference concerns mechanical ventilation. Patients with Flu often have their lungs fill up with fluid. When this occurs, mechanical breathing support may be necessary. Current medical practice provides this mechanical support by employing ventilating machines (“ventilators”). In the event of a Bird Flu Pandemic, there would not be enough of these ventilators available.

Before the invention of ventilators, Osteopathic manipulation successfully provided similar breathing support. Faced with a shortage of ventilators, these treatments could be employed just as they were in 1917. In this video, Dr. Teitelbaum demonstrates the treatment methods used successfully by Osteopathic Physicians during that pandemic.

Warning: Although these treatment methods are generally safe and easy to use, they are normally employed only by physicians with years of special training. The treatments should be employed by non-physicians only in emergency conditions, such as in the event of a pandemic when such specialized care is simply not available.