Visceral manipulations

Hebgen, Erie. Visceral Manipulation in Osteopathy. Stuttgart, Germany Thieme, 2011. Provides information on four concepts and techniques in visceral manipulation the Barral concept, the Finet and Williame concept, the Kuchera and Kuchera technique, and the Chapman reflex points. 

Visceral manipulations use manual techniques (the physician s contact with the somatic system) to balance forces that create stresses on the visceral organs. 

In 198.3, Jean-Pierre Barral and Pierre Mercier published a text in Paris on visceral manipulation entitled Manipulations Vice rales. In 1988, this was translated into English as Visceral Manipulation, This text led to a renewed interest in direct treatment of the viscera. 

Osteopathic visceral manipulation is directed toward restoring normal mobility and motility of the involved organ, assuring normal lymph flow and circulation, establishing a normal cranial rhythmic impulse, and removing abnormal somatic or nervous influences on the viscera. 

Barral J-P, Mercier P. Visceral Manipulation. Seattle Eastland Press, 1988. 

Beckman DA et al (1990) Experimental manipulation of the rodent visceral yolk sac. Teratology 41 395 04... 

What a bundle of contradictions Libra can be. On the one hand, you re ruled by seductive Venus, and relationships are essential to you. Longing for love, you instinctively look to romantic partners to balance your inadequacies and stabilize you. On the other hand, you re an air sign, ruled by your head — not your heart. Thanks to your refined sensibilities and visceral distaste for tear-soaked melodramas, you unconsciously preserve a distance meant to protect you from conflict and emotional chaos. In relationships, as in other areas of life, you often end up in an internal tug-of-war, first drawing close to the object of your affection, and then pulling away. Not surprisingly, your ambivalence may strike the other person as manipulative. 

In the management of disseminated breast cancer, quantitation of ERP/PRP serves two functions it predicts which patients are likely to benefit from hormonal manipulation, and it aids in characterizing the natural history of the disease. Receptor negative breast cancer is an aggressive disease characterized by a shorter disease-free interval and a tendency to recur at visceral sites. Survival in ERP-patients is shorter than in ERP+ patients (B6, J5, K13). 

CNS Atropine to prevent vagal reflexes induced by manipulation of visceral organs. Scopolamine to prevent motion sickness... 

Visceral Osteopathy. Osteopaths who propose the application of visceral osteopathy state that the internal organs and bodily structures (such as the digestive tract and respiratory system) and the body s motion are interconnected. For optimal health, connections among the organs and structures need to remain balanced and stable, despite the body s endless motion. Visceral osteopaths believe that manipulating the musculoskeletal system benefits the internal organs and vice versa. The effectiveness of visceral osteopathy remains controversial even within the osteopathic profession. 

Somatovisceral reflexes produce unmeasured changes on the internal organs. Sympathetic stimulation may promote or maintain a disease process. Relief of this source, if performed early enough, should alleviate the symptoms and the disease process. The viscerosomatic reflex is less amenable to cure. Manipulating the affected soma should have a beneficial effect in reducing symptoms, but the overall effect on the visceral component is indeterminable at this time. If we postulate a "tape loop" that promotes the whole process, then anything that breaks the cycle is of importance. 

From the earliest days of osteopathy, direct manipulation of the viscera has been included in the armamentarium of the osteopathic physician. In his last book. Osteopathy, Research and Practice, Andrew T. Still, the founder of osteopathy, discussed the treatment of many disease entities and emphasized the treatment of "lesions" of the vertebrae and ribs as well as describing techniques applied directly to the viscera. His stated goal was always to improve the circulation of arterial and venous blood and lymphatic flow to and from the viscera, as well as assuring proper neural function. His preference in visceral treatment was to have the patient in a knee-chest position, from which he would lift the viscera being treated upward toward the diaphragm. He described using this type of technique in the treatment of dysentery and appendicitis. He used a technique for dyspepsia in which he placed the patient on his right side while he lifted the stomach toward to left. 

Detailed descriptions of emerging techniques Updated content on somatic and visceral problems Guidance on writing osteopathic manipulative prescriptions Case histories that reflect recent changes in the national licensing examination... 

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