Visceral Manipulation

Manual Therapy For Organs

Visceral Manipulation is osteopathic manual therapy for our organs. It’s a gentle, hands-on modality developed by French osteopath Jean-Pierre Barral (for more info on this, please visit the Barral Institute).

The goal of Visceral Manipulation is to restore motion to organs that are restricted in their movement, and “wake them back up” to better function. Visceral work is done gently and respectfully, and with a very small amount of force.

Like the musculoskeletal system, the organs are surrounded by an endless web of tissues called fascia, that supports and connects them to everything else in the body. Visceral Manipulation is about easing and balancing the tensions in this fascial network surrounding it. The idea is that when the organ moves better, it functions better.

Visceral Manipulation: What It Helps

Visceral Manipulation is a very useful modality if someone is recovering from an infection, mechanical trauma, or any surgical procedure to the abdomen, pelvis, or thoracic region. Any event (old or new) that stressed or insulted the organs could result in a lack of mobility and tissue vitality.

For example, in the case of an appendectomy or a hysterectomy, very often there is a protective pattern of tensions afterward. While scans will show that everything looks healed and normal, the individual feels differences in his/her system. Visceral work helps ease the restriction, and better adapt the system to these structural changes that may have occurred after these events.

Visceral Manipulation: What It Helps 

Visceral Manipulation is a very useful modality if someone is recovering from an infection, mechanical trauma, or any surgical procedure to the abdomen, pelvis, or thoracic region. Any event (old or new) that stressed or insulted the organs could result in a lack of mobility and tissue vitality.

For example, in the case of an appendectomy or a hysterectomy, very often there is a protective pattern of tensions afterward. While scans will show that everything looks healed and normal, the individual feels differences in his/her system. Visceral work helps ease the restriction, and better adapt the system to these structural changes that may have occurred after these events.

Visceral Manipulation For Emotional Well-Being

In addition to physical stressors, there are other causes for organ restriction. Organs can hold tensions in response to things like emotional stress. Having “a knot in your stomach” in a stressful situation is a classic example of this body-mind connection.

The organs are highly innervated like our brains are, and serve as a reservoir for emotional overload. When the brain has had all it can handle, it discharges some of that emotional energy into the organ tissues. The organs hold this tension, and under normal circumstances, will release them after a time. But if the issue is too large or chronic for the person to recover from, the tension remains and can lead to physical problems that we notice (i.e. an ulcer).

Releasing the tensions around the organs helps the body finally discharge what it has been holding emotionally. The result is better physical and emotional function and resilience.

Diet And Organ Function

And of course, one cannot separate the organs from diet. Poor eating habits can also stress the organs into restricted patterns. Once we start eating better, often we feel better too.

Treatment to restricted organs allows them to function better in their roles, such as digestion. Reflux, constipation, IBS, and gastroparesis are examples of conditions that have a mechanical component to them that visceral work can help with.

Beyond the digestive organs, Visceral Manipulation can also help other organs too, like the lungs with respiratory issues, or the bladder with stress incontinence.

Diet And Organ Function

And of course, one cannot separate the organs from diet. Poor eating habits can also stress the organs into restricted patterns. Once we start eating better, often we feel better too.

Treatment to restricted organs allows them to function better in their roles, such as digestion. Reflux, constipation, IBS, and gastroparesis are examples of conditions that have a mechanical component to them that visceral work can help with.

Mobilization of Large Intestine

Beyond the digestive organs, Visceral Manipulation can also help other organs too, like the lungs with respiratory issues, or the bladder with stress incontinence.

Visceral Manipulation To Help Joint And Nerve Pain 

Visceral Manipulation can have profound effects on the musculoskeletal system. It is often a missing piece of chronic joint, muscle, or nerve pain conditions.

Simply put, because the tissue connections of the organs are continuous and connected with the rest of our bodies (especially our spinal columns), physical dysfunction of the organ is often connected to physical dysfunction of the joints. When the organ is released, the muscles and joints also loosen, and usually feel better afterward too.

The Process of Visceral Manipulation

Because everything in the body is connected, and people are often dealing with multiple concurrent problems, figuring out where to start treatment is difficult. Just because someone has IBS doesn’t mean it’s appropriate to mobilize restrictions in the colon on day 1 of treatment. This is because the colon restriction might be there as a reaction to a bigger problem somewhere else that needs attention first.

The solution to this puzzle in Visceral Manipulation is the diagnostic tool of “Listening”, which is a gentle palpation of the tissues to find where the body’s tension or struggle is the greatest. Very simply, the practitioner’s hand is pulled toward the biggest problem area. This is how the practitioner knows where to start working, and a good amount of time goes toward this step to ensure accuracy and precision.

The Process of Visceral Manipulation

“Listening” to the Body

Because everything in the body is connected, and people are often dealing with multiple concurrent problems, figuring out where to start treatment is difficult. Just because someone has IBS doesn’t mean it’s appropriate to mobilize restrictions in the colon on day 1 of treatment. This is because the colon restriction might be there as a reaction to a bigger problem somewhere else that needs attention first.

The solution to this puzzle in Visceral Manipulation is the diagnostic tool of “Listening”, which is a gentle palpation of the tissues to find where the body’s tension or struggle is the greatest. Very simply, the practitioner’s hand is pulled toward the biggest problem area. This is how the practitioner knows where to start working, and a good amount of time goes toward this step to ensure accuracy and precision.

What It’s Like And What To Wear

From there, treatment begins, and once the involved structures have been determined, the practitioner gently, and slowly sinks his/her hands into the skin to the appropriate depth in the body to engage the structure, whether it’s the stomach, the lung, bladder, etc. Then the practitioner can determine how well the organ can move, whether there is symmetry in its mobility, and what other structures of the body might be involved in the restriction.

We ask our patients/clients to wear loose, comfortable clothing, and to be prepared to temporarily remove shirts or strip down to underwear if needed so we can have the best organ contact possible when treating.

Visceral Manipulation is manual therapy for the organs, but its effects are far reaching in the human body. It’s a low risk, natural path to healing from within. And for many conditions out there, it’s a critical piece of the puzzle.