Preliminary Evaluation of an Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) to Prevent Motion Sickness Symptoms

Motion sickness directly impacts the readiness of the Army's aviation units. Severe motion sickness results in the dismissal of pilot and aircrew candidates during initial training, while minor to moderate symptoms can be distracting during flight. The current medications on the market that target motion sickness symptoms are prohibited for use before flight. Osteopathic manipulative techniques are a low to no cost option, which lacks side effects, that allows Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine flight surgeons the opportunity to treat crew members without the use of pharmaceuticals. If effective, these techniques could be used along side current desensitization training in order to ensure more pilot and crew candidates are eligible for flight. Given the paucity of research on such a technique, we conducted a small pilot study to to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel osteopathic manipulative treatment to prevent motion sickness symptoms whilst controlling for motion sickness susceptibility. The results of this study suggest that OMT may be effective at preventing motion sickness symptoms, specifically gastrointestinal (e.g., nausea) and sopite-related (e.g., drowsiness) symptoms. The effects observed were moderated by motion sickness susceptibility but not to the extent to suggest limited utility. The limitations of the study, however, preclude firm recommendations for operational use at this time.