Visceral Manipulation

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Visceral Manipulation

As you have all probably gathered from 2-3 of my posts the last

couple of days, the class was " interesting. "

I learned enough in the four days to tell me that I need to take

additional classes in it. Some of the things the modality is

capable of doing are just outstanding. Because of the

interrelationships of the internal, visceral organs, and their

various ligamentous attachments to the diaphragm and abdominal

walls, restrictions and/or adhesions involving the visceral organs

can definitely translate into some surprising dysfunctions totally

removed from the abdomen. As just one example, restrictions in the

cecum area of the ascending colon can put pressure on nerves passing

through the pelvis, which can result in unexplained pain in the

right knee. Other restrictions can cause problems in different

vertebral segments because of attachments to the posterior abdominal

wall along the spine. There are techniques in VM that are useful

for treating hietal hernias and acid reflux (something I intend to

work with this week on my wife). It can be used to address and

treat things like uterine and bladder prolapse, or to release deep

abdominal adhesions post-surgery. Like I said, there are some VERY

interesting aspects and potentials with this work.

The flip side, however, is that some of the mechanical, manual

release techniques are far too aggressive for my taste. For someone

with " basic " hypermobility, not involving tissue fragility, I would

consider the techniques safe to perform, even at level 1 training.

For someone with VEDS, however, I consider ALL of the mechanical,

manual, organ mobilization techniques to be ABSOLUTELY

CONTRAINDICATED, regardless of the level of training. And I very

clearly stated that position in class yesterday morning. My reason

is very simple – they involve a physical, manual stretching of the

organ or structure. And since many of the organs are deep within

the abdominal cavity, this also means fairly deep and sometimes

somewhat invasive palpation. I consider the potential risk of

tissue or organ trauma to be excessive, with no possible benefit

that outweighs that potential risk.

As clarification, I do not consider the WORK to be contraindicated,

far from it. I think it has definite potential, even for someone

with VEDS. It is just some of the techniques that I feel are

contraindicated. I more than proved to my own personal satisfaction

the last couple of days that this work can also be done

energetically. Personally, I would have no qualms at all about

doing any of the work myself on someone with VEDS, even with only

level 1 training, because I would be doing all of it energetically.

The " touch " would either be extremely light, with no deep pressure

or physical movement at all, or it would be done totally off-body.

In this fashion, there is simply no way that I would or could cause

any physical trauma.

The issue is finding a practitioner who can, and will, do it

energetically. There were 30 students in the class, four teaching

assistants, and one teacher. Backgrounds included three chiros,

several LMT's, PT's, OT's, a Rolfer, and a self-

proclaimed " certified torturer. " Each of these people will tend to

approach the work based on their training and mind-set. The more

physical or aggressive the background, the more physical and

aggressive their approach is apt to be. It has been kind of a joke

in some classes that I have taken that people " tend " to want to

partner up with LMT's versus PT's simply because of the different

approaches to " touch " in the two disciplines.

And in terms of energy work, there was also a very wide range in

this class. There were a handful of us who are very heavy into

energy work, but with different ability levels in doing energy

work. There were others who were able to sense some of the

energetic aspects but not to actually work with it. And there were

others with no energetic background or ability at all. Like I said,

a full range.

In an earlier post, I said " I kept asking on the first day about

how much of this stuff can be done energetically. And I kept getting

the party line about needing to follow the steps exactly as taught:

use your thumb here, the heel of your hand there, etc, etc. " I

brought the issue up again on the last day and I still did not get a

completely satisfactory answer. Some modalities teach a purely

mechanical approach at level 1, with just hints about the energetic

aspects. But by the time you are at the 2nd or 3rd class, they have

switched to almost totally energetic approaches. Others start right

out with the energetic elements, with no hesitation at all. I may be

totally wrong, but the sense I have with VM is that the developer of

the modality (even though he has had eastern and energetic training)

is still a bit gun-shy about coming out of the closet on it with VM

for fear of trashing his credibility with his peers.

The most definitive answer I could get to my questions was

the " fifth class " in the program. But even with this, there is

apparently no point in the program where they " teach " doing it

energetically. They recognize and talk about it but don't teach

it. The first three, and maybe four, classes in the program are

essentially at what might be considered " level 1 " training. The

approach is identical with all of them. The only differences are

getting into different organs and structures. As an example, I just

took VM1A. We covered the liver, stomach, gall bladder, duodenum,

ascending, descending and sigmoid colon, and small intestine. VM1B

will be taught exactly the same way as 1A. The difference is that

it will address other organs – kidneys, spleen, pancreas, etc. Same

thing with VMII - same approach, just more organs and structures.

So, for someone considering having VM work done, the issues on

training level involve whether the practitioner has been

specifically trained on certain organs, and whether or not they work

energetically.

I briefly discussed the differences between organ mobility and

motility in that earlier post. Mobility involves movement of the

organ via external force, such as gravity, fascial pulls, manual

pressure, etc. Motility involves the inherent rhythms and cycles

within the organ itself. These run at a rate of about 7-8 cycles

per minute and involve clockwise/counterclockwise oscillations,

lateral and medial rolls versus mid-line of the body,

superior/inferior glides (head to foot), or anterior/posterior rolls

(front to back), depending on the specific organ.

Motility work is far more gentle than mobility work, but degree of

invasiveness still depends on depth of the organ and how

aggressively the practitioner palpates to get to the organ. Because

of this, I would still rule out BOTH mobility and motility work for

someone with VEDS, unless it was done energetically. Superficial

motility work shouldn't be a problem, whereas deep mobilization work

definitely has excessive risk. Even so, I still feel the safest

approach where VEDS is involved is for an absolute contraindication

for all of the mechanical, manual releases, regardless of tissue

depth.

This strong cautionary statement not-with-standing, I also still

believe that the modality has much to offer. I look at this the same

way I do the other bodywork/alternative/complimentary therapies or

approaches. There is myofascial release and there is myofascial

release. It can be deeply aggressive like classical Rolfing (which

I have repeatedly cautioned against) to purely energetic with

polarity or acupressure. Same thing with lymphatic drainage. It is

an absolutely outstanding modality. But if someone has lymphedema, a

practitioner certified in lymphedema management can be a life saver

where someone else with just introductory training is downright

dangerous for them. It is all relative.

And on a final note, I sure hope the rest of you all appreciate me

throwing MY body into the breach, as it were, as a lab rat to check

some of this stuff out. Some classes I have taken, the " treatments "

I have received as part of the hands-on practice sessions have been

worth more to me personally than the seminar itself. That was NOT

the case for the last four days. I definitely could have done

without receiving a couple of the practice sessions this time. I

still hurt from one of them. In fact, I was kind of glad that we

were short a student by the final afternoon because I had reached

the point where I didn't want anybody's fingers anywhere near my

abdomen for awhile.