What is visceral manipulation?

Visceral manipulation is one of the most helpful tools for people with chronic digestive issues like chronic constipation, abdominal pain, gas, and bloating.

Visceral manipulation is a hands-on therapy that gently manipulates the fascia around your abdominal organs to help release restrictions and support organ mobility. 

Your digestive organs are suspended in your abdomen by fascia and ligaments. Fascia is the connective tissue sheath that wraps around all of your muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and organs. Fascia contains collagen for structure, elastin for flexibility, and a gel-like matrix that keeps it hydrated and allows it to glide on itself and the surrounding tissues.

Fascia is an extremely important network; it structurally supports your organs, transmits force, allows for tissues to glide on each other, and supports the rich network of sensory nerves that allow your body to track pain, pressure, stretch, and body position. It is a web that connects everything in the body, and it’s often forgotten about.

You can develop fascial restrictions from tissue inflammation after infections, surgeries, physical trauma, repetitive movements or postures, environmental toxin exposures, smoking, drinking, food sensitivities, emotional stress, dehydration, or microbiome dysfunction. When your body experiences one or more of these assaults, the fascia around your organs can become tight, causing a restriction that decreases the organs’ tone and mobility. 

These restrictions inhibit normal organ mobility. When they are released with visceral manipulation, the organs can move freely and their healthy function can be restored.

Who benefits from visceral manipulation?

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)

One of the most common conditions we see here at Lakeside is SIBO. Antimicrobial herbs, antibiotics (ie. Xifaxan or rifaximin), and dietary modifications can be incredibly helpful. Restoring function to the migratory motor complex (MMC) is key to preventing recurrence. This can be done with certain herbs, medications, exercise, fine-tuning nutrition and meal timing, and/or visceral manipulation. Visceral manipulation is especially helpful for individuals with a history of abdominal surgeries, such as a hysterectomy or surgery for endometriosis. Scar tissue and adhesions can form after surgery, affecting gut motility (and thus contributing to constipation, gas, bloating and recurrent SIBO). Visceral manipulation can help break up these adhesions and get things moving in the gut!

Other that can benefit from visceral manipulation:

• Chronic pain and fibromyalgia
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Visceral hypersensitivity
• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
• Chronic fatigue
• Blocked or stubborn emotions
• Sluggish digestion
• Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
• Heartburn
• Hiatal hernia
• Diastasis recti
• Low back pain 
• Post-surgical adhesions

Interested in learning whether visceral manipulation may be right for you?

Schedule an appointment with Dr. Ailsa Freytag here at Lakeside Natural Medicine to explore how this hands-on therapy may support your digestive health and overall well-being.