Visceral Manipulation
A light, manual therapy works through the internal visceral organs in the body including heart, liver, stomach, intestines, etc. After the initial assessment of the body, the practitioner's hands are gently placed on those organs that are not moving with the rhythm of the body. These are the organs that may be causing physiological challenges. The goal is to have normal mobility & motility (see definition below), tone, and inherent tissue motion of the viscera as our bodies need balanced movement in order to be healthy. Tissues are known to lose normal motion when they become inflamed or infected.
Mobility is the pushing and pulling of surrounding tissue. Visceral organs move in response to external forces that are either voluntary or involuntary movements. The restriction implies to the functional impairment of the organ.
Motility is the organ's intrinsic, active motion. It is also explained as the kinetic expression of tissues in motion. Embryologic axes and directions of these motions remain inscribed in the visceral tissues. This occurs around a point of equilibrium and moves toward and away from the median axis of the body. This is known as inspir and expir and cycles between 7-8 cycles per minute. Specific techniques are used to treat areas of decreased or altered motion by restoring better physiologic motion and to improve function of the organ.