Synonyms
Greek: osteon= bone and pathos= suffering, disease synonyms: Manual Medicine/Therapy, Manual Therapy, Chirotherapy, Chiropractic
Introduction
Physical complaints without obvious organ findings represent a large part of the patient volume in medical practice. About 30-50% of all physical complaints belong to this category of so-called functional diseases. Many patients who are treated in physiotherapy centers have complaints that are manifested in the musculoskeletal system.
The fact that many of these complaints still have several factors that cannot be attributed to the dysfunction of internal organs is unknown to most people. Visceral osteopathy deals with the organs in the chest, abdomen and pelvis and the connections between these areas and the effects on the musculoskeletal system, the nervous system and the extremities. As a special field of osteopathic medicine, visceral osteopathy focuses on manual diagnostics and manual therapy of functional diseases of internal organs.
Visceral osteopathy goes back to H. V. Hoover or M. D. Young in the 1940s. Another international representative is J. P. Barral, who practices mainly in France. In Germany, this part of osteopathy is still relatively unknown.
However, the importance of non-drug therapy for the treatment of functional diseases of internal organs is steadily increasing, since drugs often do not have the desired effect and, to make matters worse, have numerous side effects against which drugs must be taken. Only about 40-60% of patients benefit from drug treatment, i.e. a good half are still looking for alternative, better and less side-effect treatment techniques. Manual therapy and osteopathy are seen as a promising solution here, because the interaction between functional disease of internal organs and the musculoskeletal system is much more frequent than expected.
According to the view of visceral osteopathy, the cause for the occurrence of functional diseases of the organs is a disturbance of the organ movement. Every organ has an internal mobility and a spatial mobility independent of other organs. The mobility of the organs in relation to each other and to enveloping or supporting structures (muscles and connective tissue) is called mobility.
There is also the principle of the motility of an organ. These are fine, palpable movements that the respective organ continuously performs as an expression of its vitality. Knowledge of the embryonic development of the organs is of great importance for this principle, since it is precisely in these embryonic developmental movements (ascending ascendus and descending descendus) that later problems can develop.
Lowering of kidney, uterus and bladder with the known consequences such as relative incontinence, cycle and menstrual disorders are typical treatment indications. It is therefore essential for every organ to have healthy motility (rhythm) and mobility (movement in a broader sense). Only in this way is it possible to perform its normal function.
Every organ reacts to certain situations to stay healthy. For example, the blood supply to the stomach lining is increased when a meal has just been taken. The same happens now also under emotional situations such as stress.
If this stressful situation continues, the organ becomes tired. The reflex mechanisms via the blood and nervous systems become exhausted, the organ loses its adequate supply and the spatial stability decreases. Since the body always tries to maintain harmony, the primary cause is a change in tension in the organ itself.
Later, the neighboring organs support the stressed and weak organ and compensate the disharmony. Over time, however, this process also consumes far too much energy. This fatigue can then only be compensated for by the muscles and posture.
Chronic local symptoms, such as neck pain, for example, are the result of this overloading of certain muscle areas. Vertebral joints and intervertebral discs can also be integrated into this process. Postural patterns, scars, inflammation and traumatic events such as accidents, operations and strong emotional shocks can just as well be the cause and trigger of functional disorders of the organs.
The goal of osteopathic treatment (visceral osteopathy) is to restore the natural reflex mechanism.The treatment should not only alleviate the symptoms, but above all it should eliminate the causes, remove the triggers of the complaints, relieve relieving postures and thus provide the organism with more energy again, so that old patterns disappear and gradually further changes can occur by themselves. The practitioner palpates the fine movements of the organs and thus gets an idea of the state of health of the respective organ. He can now mobilize the organ and correct “malpositions” directly with gentle movements, or provocatively increase the problem in order to stimulate vessels and nerves (indirect technique).
In this way, the organ’s own dynamics are restored and a balance between internal organs and the musculoskeletal system is achieved. Ligamentous adhesions of the organs can be mobilized, connective tissue adhesions can be loosened, congested tissue can be drained and thus the function of the organs can be supported. The body’s own self-healing powers are activated and pathological mechanisms are dissolved.
In addition, the autonomic nervous system in particular relaxes when deep, chronic tensions in the tissue are released. The two parts of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system) harmonize. This part of the nervous system plays a key role, especially in stress-related symptoms such as high muscle tone, insomnia, teeth grinding and tinnitus, etc.
