Faced with the prospect of a cochlear implant for their 3-year-old son Tristen’s hearing loss, Daniel and Daphne Crawford searched for options.
Though not opposed to an implant, the North Carolina couple wanted to exhaust other avenues first. A family member suggested the Georgia Osteopathic Care Center—the osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) clinic at PCOM Georgia—might help Tristen.
“I said, ‘I don’t even know what you’re talking about,’ but I’m open to it because I’m grasping for straws as a mom of a 3-year-old; it’s our only child,” Daphne Crawford said.
After chatting by phone with Victoria A. Troncoso, DO, chair of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine at PCOM Georgia and medical director for the Georgia Osteopathic Care Center, in May 2024, the family committed to their first trip for treatment. That June, Daphne and Daniel loaded Tristen into their car and drove the four hours to Suwanee, Georgia, arriving on a Sunday night for their Monday morning appointment.
Nearly a year later, the family has repeated that journey across two states, from east of Charlotte to outside of Atlanta, about once a month. The reason: Tristen is progressing on a number of fronts.
Most notably, his hearing—which worsened in late August 2023 into the moderate to severe range—has held steady. During a recent test, he could even hear some sounds he hadn’t before. His head shape, initially wider at the top, is more proportional now, and the rest of his face is filling in. And Tristen is demonstrating better balance and more adventurousness—running around, jumping and climbing.
Perhaps that’s a natural progression for an energetic 3-year-old, but Daniel Crawford said Tristen’s self-confidence has improved physically and vocally.
“I was very skeptical when we first started this,” Daniel said. “It has proven me wrong because he has shown huge improvement as far as communicating and playing since we started. I feel that after we go and see Dr. Victoria, maybe not the very next day but the following day, he’s just a chatterbox. He’ll just talk your head off, and you’ll understand him.”
The family consulted multiple audiologists but didn’t come away with many answers. Tristen wears hearing aids in both ears and receives proper amplification but, if the hearing loss worsens, it could necessitate an implant.
Applying cranial principles within the paradigm of traditional osteopathy, Troncoso is literally hands on with Tristen. Through gentle manipulations of the head—for example, a temporal hold where Troncoso cradles the head in her hands and massages the areas right behind or in front of the ears—she attempts to feel for restricted tissues and asymmetries that could impair hearing.
Little by little—and to the degree a 3-year-old’s patience will allow—Troncoso attempts to move those tissues “in a direction where they unravel themselves from the inside” in order to facilitate self-healing.
“When we do that in a child, the forces of growth and development go, ‘this avenue is now open to me,’ and they go and they grow,” Troncoso said. “In children, the inherent capacity to heal is so huge, and those restricted tissues will create an unwinding based on their elasticity and how they’re supposed to go. They will soften, expand, breathe, and start to respond to the nervous and circulatory systems, and then he can advance. His body does the healing.”
Troncoso, who has been in practice since 1993, sees many patients who have been told medical treatment has reached its limits. “My impulse is to say, ‘all we can do is try,’” she said. “I’m very grateful that this family is committed to doing that.”
Tristen loves farming and construction. Skid loaders, tractors, and dump trucks are some of his favorite big rigs. Last Christmas, he got a little rake, shovel and wheelbarrow.
“I’ve got holes all in my yard now,” Daniel joked.
He added that, by sharing Tristen’s story, the family hopes their experience may help someone else in their healthcare journey as well.
Daphne said Tristen’s pediatrician, a doctor of osteopathic medicine, has been amazed at his progress—fewer ear infections, less congestion, and better hearing, even when his hearing aids aren’t in. Daphne mentioned her pursuit of OMM treatment during a visit and said she received these words of encouragement: “As I’ve always told you, mom, you’ve got this, your gut instinct is right, and continue on.”
They are.
“Ultimately, with him, we want to try everything as an option to give him the best healthcare possible,” Daphne said. “We’re just hopeful.”
PCOM Georgia has been serving students and the community for 20 years as a branch campus of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), a private, not-for-profit, accredited institution of higher education established in 1899. Located in Suwanee (Gwinnett County), PCOM Georgia offers doctoral degrees in osteopathic medicine, pharmacy and physical therapy. Graduate degrees are offered in biomedical sciences, medical laboratory science and physician assistant studies. The campus joins PCOM South Georgia in Moultrie in helping to meet the healthcare needs of the state. Emphasizing "a whole person" approach to care, PCOM Georgia focuses on educational excellence, interprofessional education and service to the community. For more information, visit pcom.edu or call 678-225-7500. The campus is also home to the Georgia Osteopathic Care Center, an osteopathic manipulative medicine clinic, which is open to the public by appointment. For more information, visit pcomgeorgiahealth.org.
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Brandon Lausch
Executive Director, Strategic Communications
Office of Marketing and Communications
Email: brandonla@pcom.edu
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