Are you feeling worried about back pain & stiffness that doesn’t go away no matter how much stretching and massage you do? Or feeling tired of relying on pain medication and injections for your back pain and are concerned about the need for surgery? Or perhaps you’re feeling frustrated that other treatments haven’t worked? And then there’s the big kicker that really stops people in their tracks – are you having trouble keeping up with your friends and family and feel like you are missing out on life due to back pain (no fun at all!)?

We often hear these concerns from our patients with back pain, so fear not! Pesty  and chronic back pain is the common reason our patients come to see us. That is why we are highlighting the back during the months of March and April.  

Did you know that your back pain may be caused by a decrease in the mobility of your internal organs?

What does that mean??

Your internal organs like the stomach, liver, gallbladder, bladder, ureters, rectum and either uterus and ovaries for females or prostate for males require mobility to expand, empty, and move on a daily basis.  You might not even realize that this occurs but it is vital to a healthy body.  

When this movement is lost due to age, an inflammatory response from an illness, injury or even surgery, it results in imbalance and pain (often in our back) because the fascia lining (connective tissue) of the abdominal cavities is continuous and can become stuck or tight when organ movement is lost.

If we think of the body as a container, the viscera or internal organs are the contents of the container. Visceral Manipulation is a gentle manual therapy used to assess and treat the contents of the container.

Visceral Manipulation facilitates the normal mobility and motion of the internal organs and their fascial or ligamentous attachments to the rest of the body through organ specific fascial mobilization.

If you are suffering from stubborn “container” (think abdominal and back) pain that hasn’t responded as well as you hoped to various treatments addressing the container, it may be time to have the “contents” assessed and treated.

What can be done to increase internal organ movement?

The best way to increase movement of your organs is through highly specialized Visceral Manipulation.  Click here for more details on Visceral Manipulation. 

So What Is Visceral Manipulation?

In physical therapy, there is often a lot of focus on the structure of the body; the bones, the muscles, the ligaments, the fascia. Something that can be overlooked is what the organs are doing – cue visceral manipulation!

This wonderful, subtle, powerful form of physical therapy looks at the way the organs are moving in the body, and works to shift them or open up space around them in the surrounding tissues when appropriate so they can fulfill their various functions. An excellent and easy example of this is our bladder – it needs to be able to fill up with urine, release it all the way, shift as necessary during pregnancy or other organ shifting occurrences, and remain supple throughout the process.

Well-moving organs mean well functioning organs. They are a vital key to our health, vitality, and well being and often the key to reducing our lower back pain.

Throughout our lives, the tissues can become inflamed by any number of external forces, from trauma like an injury, to stress, to diet, infection/illness, to excessive exercise, and even repetitive movement. In response to this inflammation, our bodies begin to create new tissue to help repair the problematic area. It’s super cool that our bodies can do that, but the trouble is, that new tissue is often quite inelastic, effectively “locking” the parts of our body where this new tissue has developed in place. You may have noticed this happening on a small scale after a tough workout and you find yourself remarkably sore and stiff. That’s new tissue forming! Sometimes it’s great when that’s the idea you’re aiming for, but a lot of times, that new tissue can end up causing constriction and restriction in places best left free flowing and open. This is where Visceral Manipulation really shines!