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Visceral Manipulation

The thoracic and abdominal organs are all surrounded, invested, supported, and held in place by fascial connective tissue. After an accident, illness or surgery, the body may tighten and constrict the internal organs such that they are not able to freely carry out their intended function. Additionally, skeletal joints are often affected by visceral restrictions. Common issues which stem from the viscera:

• A fixation of the bladder against the inner hip during pregnancy is a common cause of hip pain and the eventual wearing-out of joint surfaces, often ending in hip replacement surgery decades later.
• Lung lesions after a respiratory infection can lead to neck pain, as can whiplash (the sudden stretching and then shortening of the heart's suspensory ligaments when a steering wheel stops the rib cage, and then the heart, still moving, slams into the sternum). Since the heart and lungs are suspended by ligaments from the neck and back, no amount of neck work or surgery will help until the heart is no longer pulling the neck into the chest cavity.
• Changes in the uterus near menopause can pull on the shoulders (in a very roundabout manner); any shoulder work will only offer temporary relief until the uterine ligaments are freed.
• Emotional trauma can also cause a tightening and fixation of visceral organs; the psychological release possible with visceral manipulation is extraordinary.
• Abdominal surgery leaves a small scar on the surface, but underneath a vast iceberg of connective tissue is forming as the body tries to heal itself. Spreading from one organ to another, each in turn becomes immobilized and irritates the next, over the course of years. The VM work itself, developed by French Osteopath Jean-Pierre Barral, is gentle, non-invasive, and done with a "listening touch" from the surface of the body. Light hand pressure flows into the lines of tension, until the adhesion or spasm is located and then gently released. As always, the more that the work is needed, the more intense the sensation will be, but the greater the ensuing relief.

Practitioners: Jamie Huntsberger

Integrative Health Center of Maine is located at 222 Auburn Street in Portland, Maine.

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