Therapy for your Organs?! Visceral Manipulation in NYC
Did you know that you can receive physical therapy for your organs? This type of therapy is known as “Visceral Manual Therapy” or “Visceral Manipulation” and involves freeing fascial restrictions around your organs to promote total body health. When I was first introduced to this type of therapy, I was unsure what this term actually meant and more importantly, what this type of therapy can do for your body.
In the Physical Therapy community, the word “manipulation” usually refers to a high thrust movement applied to the spine. In contrast, manipulation when applied to the viscera refers to a very soft motion to move tissue. In my own experience, this type of therapy requires lots of practice, an extremely light touch, specific movements, and a lot of “listening.”
Restoring Homeostasis and Promoting Body Health
When I looked further into where this term actually originated, my research showed that it started in France where manipulation and mobilization are more interchangeable. The developer of this brilliant technique, Mr. Jean -Pierre Barral, D.O., described visceral therapy as “recreat[ing], harmoniz[ing], and increase[ing] proprioceptive communication in the body to enhance it’s internal mechanism for better health.”In other words, visceral therapy is helping the tissues communicate with each other by releasing tensions and restrictions around the organs so they can transport blood, hormones, and other important signals that we rely on internally to promote homeostasis (equilibrium) in our bodies with ease.
Looking Beyond the Surface
Last month I was fortunate enough to take the second class of a four-part series and learn more advanced techniques for the abdomen. It was a four-day experience of mostly hands on practice with other clinicians from all realms of manual therapy including Physical Therapy, Acupuncture, Chiro, and Massage Therapy.
Although we were learning the same techniques, we all came from different backgrounds and so I was able to learn and fine turn my manual skills beyond the techniques being taught in front of me that day. I feel this was one of the most valuable pieces of this continuing education opportunity, as it allows fine tuning of what we see externally as physical therapists and what we verify with our own hands during the manual portions of our sessions.
Assessing Organs with “Listening” Techniques
Did you know, you might not necessarily be symptomatic in your organs to have dysfunction? Many visceral problems refer pain and restrictions to other areas of the body. In order to find out exactly which organ is involved and or dysfunctional, I need to perform a specific assessment that starts with “general listening”. This is one of the concepts we are taught when learning visceral manipulation, and it helps us feel how the body hugs a lesion.
In other words, in an area of “dysfunction” the surrounding tissues will be pulled towards the area and there might also be increased heat flow to the area as well. It is here that we use our local listening techniques to fine-tune our overall findings and discover which piece is the most stuck. Once we find this area, we are able to assess where the restrictions are going to, and use the techniques we learned to restore mobility to the area.
If you suspect you have some organ or abdominal dysfunction, constipation, or even difficulty eating certain foods, feel free to contact our NYC physical therapy clinic to see if we can help!
