What is Visceral Manipulation?
In 2021 I took my first Visceral Manipulation course through the Barral Institute and have been studying and using these techniques with both my orthopedic and pelvic health patients since. Patients often mention they aren’t sure how to explain VM, and ask me about different symptoms and diagnoses that friends and family are experiencing and whether this work could help them. In this blog post, I’m going to dive into what Visceral Manipulation is (and is not), the goals of VM, and who may benefit from these treatment techniques.
First, what is Visceral Manipulation?
“Visceral Manipulation is a hands-on therapy with the specific goal of encouraging normal tone and movements both within and between the internal organs, their connective tissues, and other structures of the body where normal motion has been impaired. Additionally, other factors affecting the body may be addressed, such as tensions in the fascia (connective tissue), nerves, and blood vessels, as well as emotional issues. The ultimate goal of VM is to allow the body to self-correct, leading to improved health and optimal body function.” – Alison Harvey, A Pathway to Health: How Visceral Manipulation Can Help You
In other words, your organs need to move to stay healthy. Visceral manipulation is a very gentle, hands on technique that assesses and treats restrictions throughout the viscera. The techniques are very targeted and specific, and should not be painful to the patient. Providers use their knowledge of anatomy to apply very specific techniques to optimize outcomes.
Limitations in organ movement can be caused by stress, surgery, pregnancy, inflammation, and more. Restrictions in the organs can have a negative effect on the function of the organ, as well as limit the movement of our musculoskeletal system.
Think about your body as a container and its contents. The container is your muscles, joints, fascia, ligaments, etc. The contents are your organs, nerves, and blood vessels. Sometimes there is a problem in the container, like if you sprain your ankle or tear a rotator cuff muscle. Other times, the problem may be in the contents. For example, you could have scar tissue on and around your uterus from a c-section. In that case the problem is in the contents, however, I often see patients who experience low back pain, pelvic pain, or hip pain related to scar tissue in and around their pelvic organs. The “container” responds by “hugging” and trying to protect the area the problem is located. If you release the container you may find temporary relief, but it will continue to go back into the protective pattern until the issue in the “contents” is improved or resolved.
Our organs also share nerve roots with our skin and muscles. Referred pain can occur in areas that share a nerve root with an organ when there is a restriction in the organ. That means we may not be able to resolve the pain fully until we address the restriction in the organ.
What Visceral Manipulation is not
Visceral Manipulation is not a general abdominal massage or even a massage of the organs. Although general techniques like coregeous ball exercises or abdominal cupping can be beneficial for patients, the techniques applied by a VM practitioner are much more specific.
Visceral Manipulation is also not a realignment or repositioning of the organs. The goal of Visceral Manipulation is to gently restore mobility in order to allow for self-correction and a healing environment, not to “put organs back in place”.
Who is Visceral Manipulation for?
I truly believe most everyone could benefit from Visceral Manipulation in some way. We hold a lot of emotions in our organs. Think about when you feel nervous or anxious about something, you often have an upset stomach or GI system. Most folks are also frequently overstimulated in todays world, and Visceral Manipulation techniques are a great way to activate our parasympathetic nervous system. As I mentioned, our organs also have fascial and ligament connections to our musculoskeletal system, so any restrictions throughout the ligaments and fascia may present as orthopedic symptoms (back pain, hip pain, etc).
So for folks who have tried all the things for their musculoskeletal pain – PT, massage, chiropractic, etc, sometimes visceral manipulation may actually be able to get to the root cause of the guarding and tightness.
Some specific diagnoses and symptoms I have seen improvement with using visceral manipulation include frozen shoulder, diastasis recti, low back pain, stomach pain, pelvic pain, constipation, and chronic hip flexor tightness. I also love this resource from the Barral Institute on the benefits of visceral manipulation.
Interested in learning more about Visceral Manipulation? Contact me directly at alexis@absolutekineticspt.com. You can also schedule with me at the link above!
Blog post written by Dr. Alexis Hutchison, PT, DPT, OCS
originally posted 7/24/2021, updated 2/28/2026