什麼是內臟手法治療? What is Visceral Manipulation?

By Ivy Mok, Visceral Manipulation therapist

大部分人都不太清楚內臟手法治療（Visceral Manipulation ，簡稱：VM）可以治療的範圍，其實大部份病人前來接受治療，都離不開腰骨痛、頸痛、膝痛、肩膀痛等問題。只是，大部分情況，這些問題的根源，並非來自關節肌肉或骨骼。

幾個月前，有一位因腰痛而前來求診的女病人，在每次治療後，腰痛狀況都少了；經約五至八次治療後，腰痛已消失，只剩餘少許腰部肌肉崩緊的情況。我一直都是在改善她的左腎活動問題，也有處理腎後的神經線，子宮及左邊的卵巢的筋膜的黏連狀況。

最有趣的反應是，在最近一次治療後，病人月經流量恢復至像20歲時一般暢順和正常。當婦科醫生告知我病人，這（經量少）大概是她進入更年期的狀況，沒有辦法改善；而我找到她身體的問題，是因著筋膜和動脈循環不理想，而影響子宮及左邊卵巢的活動及功能。

內臟手法治療不但令這病人的腰痛消失，連經量少這看似在更年期必定逃不過的症狀，都能得到改善。

我想說的並不是內臟手法治療有多神奇，而是大部分人，包括我自己，對於身體如何回復「健康」這能力，都只是一知半解。若我們（泛指治療師）只針對症狀而做「頭痛醫頭 腳痛醫腳」的治療，泰半不會得到持久或根治性的痊癒。要知道，身體出現症狀只是一個訊號，通知我們身體現在非常需要我們的關注，而症狀並非問題的根源所在。

每一個身體器官都會有原動力（motility ）和能動力（mobility），當器官的活動受限，身體會作出補償，但隨著時間而此問題得不到解決，器官的功能就會減退；當身體失去維持一個理想的補償狀態時，症狀就會出現。內臟手法治療的最重要之處，就是治療師透過經年訓練，可以用雙手檢查到當下病人身體最需要處理的狀況，亦即根源問題；然後再由問題入手，以適合和準確的手法，去將問題改善，讓身體「回復健康」。

「治療」，就是找出根源問題，再對症下手；找不出問題，病也沒法根治。我們關心的，不是病人患甚麼病及其症狀，而是找出問題根源，扶正病人健康。

Many people are not clear about what conditions Visceral Manipulation (VM) can treat. In fact, majority of patients coming for the treatment, are painful conditions on back, neck, knee or shoulders etc. It is just that the root cause of these conditions are not due to musculoskeletal or osteo-articular system.

A few months ago, there came a female patient with back pain. Her back pain improved after every treatment session, and it subsided after 5-8 sessions, with only residual muscle tension. The VM treatment on her included improving her left kidney’s movement, releasing tension on the nerves behind the kidney, the fascial adhesion and vascular congestion around the uterus and left ovary.

The most interesting response after the latest treatment session was that patient’s menses resumed to normal flow smoothly, despite the fact that she was told by her O&G doctor that the condition of less and less menses was due to peri-menopausal state which was not uncommon at her age. From listening, what I found on her was the limited movement of uterus and left ovary due to fascial adhesion and vascular congestion, hence the dysfunction of the organs.

VM treatment helped not only her back pain but also the normalisation of her menses, a condition of which seemingly unavoidable for women at peri-menopausal stage.

What I want to emphasise here is NOT how amazing VM treatment is, but the fact that majority of people, me included, do not clearly understand how the body gets back to a “healthy state”. If we (therapists, and myself being physiotherapist) only offers treatment with symptomatic approach, chances are the conditions cannot be cured or the treatment effects would not be long-lasting. It should be noted that bodily symptom is just a signal telling us the body needs attention now, yet it does not indicate the root cause is where the symptom appears.

Every organ (i.e. viscera) has its own motility (movement of its own) and mobility (movement in relation with other organs), when the movement of an organ is restricted, body would try to achieve a state of compensation to keep the body capable of daily living. When the organ’s restriction cannot be solved, the organ’s function will reduce. Symptoms appear when the body can no longer maintain the compensation state.

The biggest value of VM is that a well-trained therapist is capable of finding out the root cause of a patient’s condition using her/his two hands, then s/he can let the body resume to “healthy state” by applying appropriate techniques on the body.

“To treat” is to locate the root cause and to treat the cause; the problem can by no means be cured if the root cause cannot be located. What we care about is NOT the symptoms or illnesses of patients, but the root cause of the illness/problem so as to help the body to get back to “health”.

#Jeanpierrebarral #BarralInstitute #ManualTherapy #Treattherootcause #lifeofatherapist #osteopathy #musculoskeletal #donttreatthesymptoms #physioHK
#whatishealth #何謂健康 #內臟手法治療 #醫治