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New research from the University of 51С�Ƴ� College of Osteopathic Medicine (51С�Ƴ�COM) shows that manual therapy can reduce abdominal adhesions after surgery.

Almost all patients who have surgery to their abdomen end up with adhesions between their organs. These adhesions are the leading cause of small bowel obstructions, infertility and chronic abdominal pain. Despite decades of research into preventing postoperative adhesions, there have been few advances.

Open access journal PLOS ONE published an original research paper from Geoffrey Bove, D.C., Ph.D., titled “Attenuation of Postoperative Adhesions using a Modeled Manual Therapy.” It presents the results of experiments where a method called “visceral manipulation” was applied to rats in a novel model of postoperative adhesions. The underlying concept was that if the organs were kept moving immediately after the surgery, they would not stick together. This idea was found to be accurate for some types of postoperative adhesions.

The method is used by a wide variety of therapists including osteopaths, massage therapists, and chiropractors. Susan Chapelle, a massage therapist from Squamish, British Columbia, Canada, adapted the method to rats, and performed all the treatments. The results also demonstrated that in experienced hands, the method is safe to apply immediately following surgery.

The research was performed in collaboration with David Mokler, Ph.D., and Katherine Hanlon, Ph.D., also from 51С�Ƴ�COM, and Michael Diamond, M.D., of Augusta University.

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