What if medicine did not turn to imaging and pharmaceutical algorithms and used visceral manipulation practitioners instead?
What if medicine did not turn to imaging and pharmaceutical algorithms so quickly in non-emergent care? It is hard for the general public to wrap their head around the idea that the Aboriginal French people could provide differential diagnostics, treatment and healing with just their hands. The indigenous could teach us so much if we came with a willingness and curiosity to learn. They have been practicing much more than osteopathic techniques for over 60,000 years, before western medicine came to be. Osteopathic medicine has only been around for 151 years. The osteopath philosophy is “based on the principles of the unity of the human body, the body's ability to regulate and heal itself, the somatic component of disease, the interrelationship of structure and function, and the use of manipulative treatment in the total care of the patient”. In other words, your hands do all the work.
The philosophy of visceral manipulation I have been studying was put together by a curious physical therapist (PT) who later became a doctor of osteopathy (DO) and studied from the French aboriginal tribe in the Alps.
“Visceral manipulation recreates, harmonizes and increases proprioception communication with the body to improve its internal order to obtain an optimal state of health” Jean-Pierre Barral, DO, MRO(F), RPT.
It’s the entirety of the search I had as I began healing myself from environmental and biotoxin illness, but also what I was searching for to help the body function efficiently without the use of so many pharmaceuticals and supplements.
When clients bring greater than 30 bottles of pills in with them to test, I know their nervous system is overwhelmed. That is over 30 messages to the brain on top of the tasks it is trying to accomplish to benefit the body. We need to provide clear, precise messages to the body instead of inundate the body with too many messages. It is no wonder so many clients or patients come in to your clinic with anxiety because the brain is overwhelmed.
The goal with my last continuing education course was to fine tune my hands, palpation skills, learn more tools to pinpoint extended connections within the body and associated spinal segments and verify the precision of location to identify and treat the most precise tissue under duress, stress or strain. I think of my hands as ears trying to listen and grab the information, communication and line of tension the body is sending. Think of a long band of theraband (resistance band you may have received from a physical therapist, rubber band if you will). If I am holding one end and you pull on the other end, that is the end of the line of tension. Same thing happens within the body when there is scar tissue, muscle tightness, restriction on the lining of the lungs after illness, within the small intestine with ulcers or bacterial/ fungal overgrowth, the colon with fecal matter or mucoid plaque, esophagus with hiatal hernia (or any hernia), the liver or gallbladder where it should slide & glide on other tissues, a bone with a fracture, osteopenia or osteoporosis or a pull within the body creating scoliosis or contributing towards falls. Think of acid reflux or constipation as a clue your body is leaving because there is a restriction and your body is not sliding, gliding and moving like it should. Scar tissue is an interesting tissue because it tends to grow tentacles to attach itself to surrounding tissues, like a spiderweb forming connections. Scar tissue does not have a sense of what it should do; it has never been trained and was not part of embryonic development to understand how tissues flow (motility).
I have worked on fine tuning my hands to listen to the body’s line of tension, palpate the depth of tissue, analyze the feel to differentially diagnose what tissue is under the most tension. The key is to locate it, confirm it, relieve the tension within the body limiting function and retrain the nervous system back to motility (embryonic development movement away from midline & towards midline). This will help my clients find the most resiliency to alleviate pain and dysfunction at the muscles, ligaments, tendons, joints, organs, blood vessels and/ or nerves.
This type of palpation, tactile proficiency, and listening allows for meticulous treatment promoting the movement of fluids the way we were designed in embryonic development; the flow of air, blood, digestion, cerebrospinal fluid and muscle contraction (among others). It promotes optimal mobility of the whole body, relieves pain and tension and enhances the body’s natural healing process.
I always say, “the body leaves clues” Jen Schook, MPT
What if we could avoid: exposing our bodies to harmful radiation for imaging, filling our veins with heavy metals from contrast dye, be prescribed pharmaceuticals based on algorithms?
What if we could get to the tissue that was under the most stress, duress and tension before there was a problem?
What if we could help the valves between the organs flow in a functional direction?
What if we could help mobilize scar tissue before adhesions created blood flow within them?
What if we could help the body move and heal more naturally as a first line of defense?
The world might be a happier and healthier place.
My quest to dial the precision of my hands for differential diagnostics and treatment led me down a deeper road of curiosity and understanding. What if?
This is not medical advice. You should always consult your healthcare practitioner(s) for medical advise and what is best for your care. The purpose of this blog is to centralize and share information while connecting with others.