Osteopathic Research Center

The Osteopathic Research Center (ORC) was founded in 2002 to serve as a profession-wide research center for osteopathic medicine. The original mission of the ORC was to conduct research on the mechanistic and clinical aspects of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT). In so doing, the ORC has provided important evidence through systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and randomized controlled trials. The OSTEOPATHIC Trial, completed in 2011 and involving 455 patients with chronic low back pain, is the largest single-site efficacy trial of spinal manipulative therapy. It has provided the strongest evidence to date on the efficacy of OMT. Our ORC research serves as the basis for the American Osteopathic Association’s only clinical practice guideline, which addresses the use of OMT in patients with low back pain.

Over the years, the ORC mission has evolved to address issues that are relevant to health services and policy research and to primary care practice in general. Our present focus is on developing the Pain Registry for Epidemiological, Clinical, and Interventional Studies and Innovation (PRECISION Pain Research Registry) as a registry to study chronic pain in the United States and to assess prevention and treatment options based on emerging aspects of Precision Medicine and the biopsychosocial model. Our research team is working together with patients, research collaborators, and other agencies to achieve the vision of “a future for all unbounded by pain.”

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Congratulations to the TCOM Students who completed the Osteopathic Research Center’s Summer Program in Clinical Research.

Read our latest article on physician empathy and chronic pain outcomes published in the JAMA Network.

Dr. John Licciardone receives the 2023 Clinical Research Award.

The Osteopathic Research Center is pleased to provide study leadership for the landmark $14 million NIH study of low back pain.