Organ/Viceral Manipulation Treatments
What is Organ Manipulation?
Organ manipulation is technically known as Visceral Manipulation. It derives from Craniosacral therapy, a healing therapy that uses light touches to the neck and head to release tightness and aid spiral flow.
Organ Manipulation focuses on the torso organs, where your body holds tension. Your OM therapist feels for decreased or altered motion within the organs as well as restrictive patterns in your body where they apply OM techniques.
Your therapist uses gentle simulation to help with issues such as digestion, sleep, stress, trauma and pain. Organ Manipulation does not only focus on the site of dysfunction or pain. It evaluates your body for the source of the problem.
The Development of Organ Manipulation by Jean-Pierre Barral
Jean-Pierre Barral, a French Osteopath developed Organ Manipulation. It is known as the missing link in treating recurrent postural distortions, musculoskeletal pain and biomechanical dysfunction. However, methods such as Visceral Manipulation existed in parts of Asia and Europe since pre-recorded times.
Jean-Pierre developed an interest in biomechanics while working at the Lung Disease Hospital in France. Together with his colleague Dr Arnaud, he studied biomechanics in living subjects. He found that visceral lines promoted tension in the body. The study was pivotal to the development of Visceral Manipulation between the late 70s and early 80s.
How Organ Manipulation Works
Your OM therapist performs the massage using their hands to access tense spots. Next, they gently compress and move soft tissues, looking out for scar tissues and tender spots. Visceral facial constriction may occur in the body after scar tissue from a C-section or other abdominal surgery. It’s similar to the tight spots in your quads but in the connective tissue around your organs. Organ massage breaks this up.
Your internal organ is connected through nerves and tissues to other parts of your body such as the musculoskeletal tissue and skin. If both are affected by chronic pain, it affects the connection to the visceral organs over time. In 2018, a six-week osteopathic visceral manipulation study was carried out on patients with low back pain and functional constipation. The primary aim of the study was to analyse the effect of organ manipulation on the flexion-relaxation phenomenon (FRP) in these individuals.
The secondary objective was to analyse the effect of the programme on EMG signals of para-spinal muscles during the FRP. The study found that participants had less pain after 52 weeks of continued massage treatment. A second study of 28 people with non-specific pain indicates that one session of osteopathic visceral manipulation for the liver and stomach increases the amplitude of the upper trapezius muscle and reduces cervical pain. While the results indicated a need for further research, its generally accepted that organ manipulation is safe when performed by a licensed and well-trained therapist.
Do Organs Contribute to Pain and Dysfunction?
There are many interrelated components in the body such as nerves, bones, muscles, fascia and the internal organs. When you walk, breathe or stretch, your organs move in your abdomen and chest. The fascia is a thin collective tissue that transmits organ movement to other structures in your body. Structures move fluidly when you’re healthy. The movement is crucial. It affects activities in the body such as rhythmic contractions of the heart and cellular pulsations. Your health is dependent on the interconnectedness of the structures and organs in your body.
Some of the reasons why your organ loses mobility include a sedentary lifestyle, physical trauma, pollution, surgeries, poor posture, bad diet and delivery (after pregnancy). When your organ is fixed to a structure, your body compensates. The disharmony causes chronic irritation, abnormal points of tension and structural points of the problem in the vascular, musculoskeletal, urinary, nervous, digestive and respiratory parts of the body.
Does Organ Manipulation work?
Similar to other manipulation techniques that affect your body on a deeper level, Organ Manipulation works to assist normal and abnormal forces at work in your body. It is not a therapy that works in isolation. Organ Manipulation aids proprioceptive communication in the body to relieve symptoms of pain and revitalise you.
It is an integrative approach that requires an assessment of the structural relation between your organ and fascial attachments to the musculoskeletal system. Through specific techniques, your therapist evaluates the overlap and interplay of abnormal forces and their effect on normal body forces at work. Organ manipulation encourages your body mechanisms to dissipate the negative effects of stress, improve organ function and influence general metabolism.