What is Visceral Manipulation?
“The purpose of Visceral Manipulation is to recreate, harmonize and increase proprioceptive communication in the body to enhance its internal mechanism for better health.” -Jean-Pierre Barral, D.O.
What is Visceral Manipulation?
Visceral manipulation is a manual therapy used by an experienced therapist with specialized training to release organ specific fascial restrictions found within the body. This gentle technique helps encourage normal mobility and function of our organs and may be a key missing link of unresolved, recurring, or chronically felt symptoms within the body.
Our bodies require movement for optimal health and function. Most people are familiar with the importance of muscle and joint mobility and how restrictions of these structures may cause tightness, decreased function, limited movement, or pain. However, many have not considered the important role of our organ mobility and the effect it has on the body’s function and how well we feel in our body as an interconnected whole.
Just like muscles and joints, the mobility of our viscera can also become restricted and lead to common musculoskeletal symptoms such as recurring back, hip, or pelvic pain. Beyond musculoskeletal symptoms, visceral restrictions can also present as respiratory, digestive, urogenital and reproductive symptoms and dysfunction.
Think about that recurring period or ovulation pain, could it be that the ovaries and/or uterus are somewhat stuck and lacking mobility to do their job optimally? Could your bladder symptoms be due to the bladder not having the mobility to properly expand to fill or contract to empty efficiently? What about deep penetrative pain? Could we go beyond releasing the pelvic floor muscles and consider mobilizing the pelvic viscera? How about common digestive symptoms such as constipation, gastric reflux, heartburn? Could mobilizing the abdominal viscera help these organs function optimally and therefore, improve these symptoms? At Women’s Wisdom Integrative Wellness, we see this regularly. Visceral mobilization is often a key missing piece for many who have been experiencing these exact symptoms.
How does organ mobility become restricted in the first place?
Our organs are supported by fascia and an internal pressure system. The fascial system is one continuous web of connective tissue that runs throughout the entire body, providing support as it wraps around not only each organ, but also around our muscles, blood vessels, bones, nerves, joints, tendons, ligaments, and every individual cell. Fascia is composed of collagen, providing support, and a liquid substance, called hyaluronan, providing flexibility with a slide/glide effect between the layers, allowing the fascia to stretch with us as we move.
This slide/glide effect of fascia can be disrupted and dry up when exposed to inflammation, infection, trauma, or surgery. What leads to inflammation within our body is another interesting topic worthy of its own blog post… stress, dietary choices and lifestyle habits can all be inflammatory and affect our visceral mobility and overall health and wellness. This is an area where integrative health coaching can really shine to help bring awareness to these possible underlying root causes and help support positive changes along with visceral manipulation therapy.
As a Pelvic Health Physical Therapist, I see many women who have had pelvic surgeries, whether it be cesareans, excision surgeries, or even an appendectomy, who may have at best had their scar tissue mobilized but have not actually had their visceral mobility addressed to restore optimal function. Any time the abdomen or pelvis is exposed to air, even with minimally invasive surgery, there is a drying effect, creating a sticky environment instead of a slide/glide environment. Once healed, visceral manipulation can help restore optimal mobility and function of the organs while improving how well you feel in your body after surgery.
Changes in the internal pressure system such as during pregnancy and after labor and birthing are also important factors to consider when it comes to the visceral mobility. Our bodies are amazingly designed and during pregnancy we really get to experience this as we witness the ability of our body to adapt, change, and grow to make room for our growing uterus. The organs have to adapt, reposition, and move out of the way. The organs also experience a rather rapid position and pressure change once the baby has been born. This is a special time within a woman’s life and one that really benefits from the compassionate support of a skilled provider.
Visceral restrictions can also present due to emotional holding patterns within the body. Have you ever had a ‘gut feeling’ or ‘butterflies in your stomach’? These are examples of how we can feel emotions within our organs. One of the amazing functions of our brain is that it can discharge emotions to our organs in response to stressful or intense situations, creating an organ-behavior relationship pattern. This can present differently in each person and often relates to one’s underlying individual personality traits. It has been said that the organs echo our emotions and reflect our physical and mental well-being. This is another wonderful area where integrative health coaching can really shine to help bring awareness and create change.
What messages is your body sending you? Let’s explore and take a deeper look together. Contact us today!
Supportive Reading:
Understanding the Messages of Your Body- How to Interpret Physical and Emotional Signals to Achieve Optimal Health written by Jean-Pierre Barral, D.O.