Qualitative evaluation of osteopathic manipulative therapy in a patient with gastroesophageal reflux disease: a brief report.

Context: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a chronic condition that affects a growing number of people and is currently among the most common disorders seen in clinical practice.

Objective: To develop a protocol for the management of GERD with osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMTh) applied to the diaphragm and esophagus, and to evaluate the protocol's effectiveness using the quality of life scale (QS-GERD) for the disease.

Methods: In this single-blinded prospective study, an OMTh protocol focusing on the diaphragm and esophagus was applied to a single patient, who had received a diagnosis of GERD 4 years previously.