Osteopathic manual therapy is advantageous for variety of different conditions. Although many people may not generally associate osteopathic treatment with fertility-related topics, many studies have shown that manual osteopathy can have several benefits in prognosis and treatment of infertility, and related conditions. One of the core tenants of manual osteopathy is that “structure” and “function” are often interrelated, and this certainly holds true when it comes to osteopathy and fertility topics. While the list of prognosis techniques, approaches and treatments is an endless topic by itself, the following is a summary designed to merely shed an insight towards the subject.
Given that infertility may be the result of malformations and vice versa, it is then of utmost importance for any examination to include looking for impaired structures in female patients. Such studies should include examining the pelvic floor and the skull area for neuropathy. With that said, your pelvic floor itself contains a number of organs within it. The uterus, genital organs, intestines, bladder and musculoskeletal structures such as your spine, ribs, muscles, and ligaments are a few examples of these organs. Therefore prognosis is further broken down based on categories of organs.
Your uterus is a very motile organ and its shape depends on your bladder and intestine and whether they are full or empty. Free movement of these organs can give them optimal function. A squeezed or displaced uterus might restrict its movement and as a result its functionality will decrease. Your Fallopian tubes should be mobile and well nourished similarly to your uterus. There are some ligaments which hold your Fallopian tubes in place, and plenty of blood supplies nourishment to them. Any dysfunction of these ligaments or compression in blood vessels should be treated in order to restore the natural functionality. By stretching and strengthening certain muscles such as your iliopsoas muscle, your uterus, intestines, bladder and all the ligaments and structures inside your pelvic area and inferior regions will have greater support, so gravity and other external factors could not have a negative impact on your pelvic cavity and its inner organs. The latter procedures constitute the core of what’s often referred to as Visceral Manipulation (VM) and musculoskeletal treatment.
One thing that may not be obvious at first is that Cranial-Sacral Therapy (CST) can be used to help treat neuropathy of pelvic nerves and is often performed along with VM and musculoskeletal treatments. There is the possibility of nerve irritation if there are some dysfunctions in your sacral area or the base of your skull. Elimination of any pressure or obstacles from your nervous system and having the functionality of your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems back can help to balance irritated areas, ultimately helping towards restoring reproductive health.
To summarize, Osteopathic VM and mobilization techniques can help to remove various obstacles and restore optimal function of your uterus and Fallopian tubes. Manual osteopathy therapy works on your body as a whole interconnected system, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that its multiple functional units work properly and in harmony. In terms of fertility, this entails manual osteopathic treatments that look at not only the immediate organs but also other areas and causes.
By Nazanin Eshghi Moghaddam, DOMP
