Effects Of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine(OMM) On Lower Extremity Muscle Characteristics In Parkinson's Disease(PD) Patients

Sham- Light touch, not reaching restrictive barrier For the control group, the subjects hip, knee, and ankle joints will be moved bilaterally 3 times into each plane to mimic the OMM muscle energy treatment. The joint will be moved in each plane of motion without reaching the joint barrier. The hip joint will be moved into adduction, extension, and flexion, the knee joint will be moved into extension and flexion, and the ankle will be moved into plantarflexion and dorsiflexion 3 times in each direction without reaching the barrier passively.

The interventional group will received Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, specifically Muscle energy treatment. An osteopathic manipulative treatment protocol will be applied to the lower extremity joints bilaterally. Muscle energy technique (MET) will be applied to the hip, knee, and ankle bilaterally based on the protocol from Atlas of Osteopathic Techniques. The adductor, extensor, and flexor muscles of the hip joint will be treated, the extensors and flexors of the knee joint will be treated, and the plantar and dorsiflexion muscles of the ankle will be treated. Muscle energy is a direct active treatment asking the subject to move their joint in a direction against a counterforce by the treatment provider for 3 times for 3 seconds and repeating the procedure 3 times and afterwards a passive stretch to the joint is applied by the provider.