Visceral Manipulation

In a healthy body, when you breathe, walk, or stretch, your organs move in your chest, abdomen, and pelvis. Your kidneys, for example, move almost four inches when you take a deep breath. In fact, when you move, all your internal structures – organs, bones, muscles, nerves, and the connective tissue called fascia – move inside you with interconnected fluidity.

If the tissue surrounding an organ is damaged – during sports, by a collision or fall, by disease, or by the post-operative effects of surgery – it can restrict or change the organ’s regular pattern of movement. If this happens, the movement patterns of all the nearby structures can change as well. This “ripple effect” throughout the body may be felt as pain or chronic irritation far from the original injury. Adhesions to the fascia supporting the liver, for example, can cause pain in the right shoulder.

To get rid of the chronic pain, the organ needs to regain its regular mobility, and that’s where Visceral Manipulation can help.

• Chronic neck and back pain
• Headaches and migraines
• Chronic shoulder or hip restrictions
• Sciatica
• Digestive disorders including reflux, gastritis and constipation
• Fibromyalgia
• Prostate or bladder dysfunction
• Pediatric problems such as colic, reflux and gastritis

Visceral Manipulation, also known as “organ-specific fascial mobilisation”, is a safe and gentle therapy that can be used for clients of all ages, including infants and children.

The therapist gently feels the viscera, or internal organs of the body, such as the liver, kidneys, and intestines, to check for restricted or altered movement. By gently compressing and stretching the affected soft tissue around the organ, the therapist releases the restrictions and helps the organ regain mobility. As treatment progresses, associated symptoms elsewhere in the body start to disappear.

The experienced therapists at Jericho Physio often combine Visceral Manipulation with other fascia-focused treatment methods, such as Craniosacral Therapy and Myofascial Release, so that they can get to the source of your problem and relieve your symptoms in every affected area.

For more complex chronic pain patterns, we offer multiple-hands therapy sessions – affectionately known at Jericho as “tag team physio” – in which two physiotherapists work together during the treatment session to treat longer lines of fascial restrictions in your body, (multiple, related restrictions in your fascial network that are caused by a continuous line of tension).

To find out more about Visceral Manipulation, please visit www.barralinstitute.com

To arrange an appointment, please call our office at 604-228-1474 or use our online request form.