Dr. Marylin Palackel James, D.O.

As a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, we are trained to look at our patient as a whole, the mind, body, and the spirit.  We study all the anatomy, physiology, and hard sciences that the MDs do, but also have an additional 200+ hours of training in manual therapy.  As stated by the American Osteopathic Association, "DOs are trained to promote the body's natural tendency toward self-healing and health".

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Here are the core Tenets of Osteopathic Medicine:

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1. The body is a unit comprised of body, mind, and spirit.

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2. The body is capable of self-regulation and self-healing. It is also capable of health maintenance. 

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3.  Appropriate treatment involves understanding the basic principles of body unit, self-regulation, and the interrelationship of structure and function. 

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For more information about Osteopathic Medicine, go to https://osteopathic.org/about/

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My DO training helped me understand the importance of keeping an open mind and utilizing multiple modalities to help heal.  Throughout medical school and residency, I realized how powerful osteopathic manual therapy (OMT) is when integrated into mainstay care in the appropriate setting.  I did my 40 hour Cranial Course in medical school and currently utilize various modalities including cranio-sacral therapy, myofascial release, muscle energy, and strain-counter strain to name a few. Using these techniques I treat patients all the way from pediatrics through the elderly, and even pregnant women.  I have countless stories of how effective these treatments were and how much time and money it saved the patient.  It can be used to treat migraines, tension headaches, neck pain, back pain, frozen shoulder, TMJ dysfunction, recurrent sinus infections, tail bone pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, various types of knee pain, piriformis syndrome, plantar fasciitis and so on.  

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After residency, I went to India to get my yoga teacher training and became a certified yoga instructor.  That was when I had an immersive experience with Ayurvedic Medicine, an ancient Indian medical science that is 5,000 years old but still practiced to this day. Through Ayurveda, I was able to heal various long standing health problems. This got me excited to integrate the Eastern medical practices with my Western training.  I went to Ayurvedic school and finished the 6 month Ayurvedic Coach program in efforts to bring this wonderful science of healing to my patients.  My practice style is strongly influenced by these principles which has many similarities to the Osteopathic Tenets.  Ayurveda also believes in the body's ability to self-heal and to maintain health, and the importance of looking at the mind-body-spirit connection.  It discusses the importance of gut in overall health maintenance and how each individual is different, with different microbiome, and constitutional makeup, thus requiring different lifestyle habits to live in synch with their own unique nature.  It is not a one size fits all.

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In summary, this is my philosophy of care: Medicine needs to be personalized because every individual is unique.  Often times it takes as long as it took for the disease to manifest to reverse the disease, but it can be reversed because our body has the capacity to heal itself.  My goal is to partner with my patients to understand them at a deeper level and to be there every step of the way from dis-ease to ease. 

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