Traditional Osteopathy

Dr. Thom is board certified in two specialties.  The first is Family Medicine, which gives her a breadth of knowledge and skill to address numerous acute and chronic health conditions.  The second is Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine and Osteopathic Manual Medicine (NMM-OMM), which requires additional advanced training and certification in hands-on osteopathic care.  She is also a certified Pfilates instructor.

For over 21 years, she has practiced medicine in all settings of care, including the hospital, delivering babies, outpatient clinic, emergency department, nursing homes, and in-home care.  In all these settings, she has utilized Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) to aid in diagnosis and treatment, complementing or replacing traditional western medicine care plans.

For the past 5 years, she has turned her attention to NMM-OMM as a specialty practice.  The breadth of Family Medicine continues to inform her care.  She frequently helps patients interpret test results from their other providers and makes recommendations for other testing or referrals if needed.  Medications are reviewed and lifestyle and nutritional counseling are woven into all visits.

Dr. Thom is passionate about caring for people at both ends of their life and everything in between.  She strongly believes in OMT as a preventive service, starting in pregnancy.  Treating newborns is also a key time where a little help can change a little one’s trajecory. Dr. Thom holds end-of-life care especially dear, as Traditional Osteopathy helps people integrate and breathe easily in many ways.

She regularly treats numerous conditions throughout life, from acute and chronic pain to inflammatory states to physical and emotional trauma.  

In addition to her private osteopathic practice, Dr. Thom is a Professor in the OMM Department at Touro University California College of Osteopathic Medicine in Vallejo, CA.  From 2011 - 2017, she was on the faculty of the Family Medicine and OMM Residency Programs in Bangor, ME.  From 2002 - 2011, she was a "Country Doc" in the towns of Bucksport and Blue Hill, ME.

Please call if you would like to schedule an appointment or discuss how Dr. Thom’s work in Traditional Osteopathy may help you.

Dr. Thom practices all modalities of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment.  The modality that informs and guides the whole of her work is called Osteopathy in the Cranial Field in the Biodynamic Model.  This is is a form of treatment that relies on the patient's own body doing the work according to it inherent healing capacity and strength.  Knowledge of embryology and detailed anatomy are required, as embryology is an ongoing motive force in growth, development, and healing throughout life. 

Osteopathy in the Cranial Field (OCF) was developed by William G. Sutherland, DO, and Biodynamics was presented by James Jealous, DO, as a further development of OCF inspired by embryology.  While OCF was initially developed to treat the cranium, the tidal foces that are at work in the cranium are present and treatable throughout the body.  Biodynamics treats the body as a whole, utilizing these tidal forces and more.