January 2022 Vol. 122, No. 1

Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 is one of the three U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved vaccines for the prevention of COVID-19. Its most common side effect, injection site pain, occurs because of locally recruited inflammatory mediators and is mitigated by the lymphatic system. Side effects may discourage individuals from receiving vaccines; therefore, reducing the duration of injection site pain can promote vaccination compliance. Osteopathic manipulative treatments (OMT) can directly affect the physiology underlying muscle soreness; however, there is currently no literature that supports the use of OMT in this scenario. In this case report, an otherwise healthy male presented with acute left deltoid soreness after receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. Three hours after being treated with lymphatic OMT, the severity of the pain was significantly reduced and was alleviated 8 hours after onset in comparison to the median duration of 24–48 hours.

The authors evaluated whether a screening tool would be able to accurately screen individuals for movement system disorders (MSDs), explore comorbidities that may predict the prevalence of MSDs, and identify why people do not discuss these problems with their primary care provider.

Age-dependent dementia is a devastating disorder afflicting a growing older population. Although pharmacological agents improve symptoms of dementia, age-related comorbidities combined with adverse effects often outweigh their clinical benefits. Therefore, nonpharmacological therapies are being investigated as an alternative. In a previous pilot study, aged rats demonstrated improved spatial memory after osteopathic cranial manipulative medicine (OCMM) treatment. In this continuation of the aforementioned study, the authors examine the effect of OCMM on gene expression to elicit possible explanations for the improvement in spatial memory.