Is asthma still taking your breath away, no matter how carefully you follow your doctor’s orders?

You’re not alone.

While medication is the most effective way of controlling asthma, most asthma patients still go through times when they’re struggling for air. In fact, some studies suggest that less than half of asthma sufferers actually have their condition under the best possible control.

If medication isn’t adequately addressing the tightness in your chest and stiffness in your lungs, you may still have airway inflammation, which can make your breathing muscles less flexible and more restricted, says Dennis Dowling, D.O., an osteopathic physician in Syosset, NY. In order to ease these persistent asthma symptoms, you may want to consider adding a mechanical tune-up to your treatment plan.

Like medical doctors, osteopaths in the U.S. are fully licensed to prescribe medication and even perform surgery. They work from the premise that the body’s musculoskeletal system plays a central role in illness and, therefore, healing. Using their hands to manipulate the muscles, joints and even internal organs—a technique called osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT)—osteopaths literally push the body toward healing.

A former professor and chairman of the osteopathic manipulative medicine department at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Dowling uses OMT to ease breathing difficulties and calm flares in people with persistent asthma, in addition to their ongoing medical treatment. He says OMT, in combination with drug therapy, can help strengthen asthmatic lungs.

Dave Campbell, D.O., an athletic therapist in Montreal, describes one way this hands-on therapy can improve breathing in someone with asthma. The patient takes a deep breath while the doctor pushes his fingers up and under the ribcage, stretching and loosening the muscles in the diaphragm. He then works to ease the tension in the intercostal muscles between the ribs, and to release the scalene and sternocleidomastoid muscles in the neck. The result is a loosening of the muscles in the ribcage, which allows the lungs to inflate more fully. Asthmatic breathing, even without a full asthma attack, overworks these muscles, making them short and tight, which limits the mobility of the ribcage. “By manually easing this tension and getting the patient to fully inflate the lungs, you can help restore more efficient respiratory function,” says Dr. Campbell. “Ensuring good movement in the cervical and thoracic spine will also help the lungs breathe more effectively and efficiently.”

Some medical doctors remain unconvinced of OMT’s benefits for asthma sufferers, largely because there isn’t a lot of scientific evidence to support the claim. However, in 2005, the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association published a study of 140 children showing that patients with persistent symptoms, despite appropriate medical treatment, had significantly improved lung function when they received OMT in addition to their usual medication.

Andrea Vianna, M.D., a coauthor of the study, says she has seen OMT dramatically reduce hospitalizations in her asthmatic patients. “Osteopaths have everything that we have as MDs plus this manipulative technique, which is amazing,” she says, from her office on Long Island, NY.

So while you continue working with your doctor to find the best medications for controlling your asthma, you may also consider OMT to help align your muscles to take bigger breaths.