Digestion issues have many causes, and one cause that we often overlook is mechanical. Usually we think our bellies are unhappy because of something that we ate or drank, if we didn’t have enough water, or maybe we have too much acidity. Usually, we think about the chemical side of digestion and often overlook the mechanical side. You see, every organ has its own movement, and that movement is important for it to function at its best. For example, we know that the stomach churns our food before it passes into the small intestine. In order for the food to pass through the intestines, the muscles of the intestines work it along.
Every organ has its own motion. Why is this important? Because when we have tummy pain we often don’t think that it could be because we slipped and fell last week, or that we had an appendectomy 10 years ago. You see any trauma to the belly, like falling, sports injuries, surgeries, they all contribute to how the organs are able to move. The easiest example is scar tissue. These thick, firm collagen fibres that create a scar restrict the movement of the skin - we can see this on the outside - BUT it also does the same on the inside. Scar tissue can create pulls, like a pull in your sweater, and it’s these pulls that prevent our organs from moving the way they would like to. This affects how they function! It also leads to irritation and inflammation, and over time disease. Don't have any scars you can see? Don't think you're out of the woods. Internal adhesions, mini scarring, are created during even small traumas - slipping, falling, contusions. These adhesions act just like the scar you see on the outside!
Add to this the effects of emotion on our digestion. Think of the butterflies in your stomach when you’re nervous or the nausea you feel when you’re scared. Emotions have a profound effect on our digestion too. A manual osteopath trained in visceral manipulation can detect these important organ motions, or the lack of motion, and work to resolve why the organs are not moving they way they would like. Easing the pull of the appendectomy scar can have a profound effect on back pain. After loosening the pull from an internal adhesion that happened from tripping over the dog’s toy last month, the intestine is now able to move food through it the way it would like to. Symptoms like acid reflux and indigestion are helped and often resolved by allowing the stomach to sit where its happy without having those sticky little adhesions caused from that seat belt bruise after hitting the brakes a little hard. There are so many causes of little restrictions in the digestive organs, even pants that are too tight! So the next time you think “oh, gosh my stomach didn’t like that dessert” instead wonder whether your organs need a little tune up.
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