Abdominal Massage

Skinny
0 Recommendations

Dear Friends

Ever the optimist and open to try any new ideas, I was intrigued when my shiatsu massage therapist ( I go to see her about once a month normally) told me she'd been on an abdominal massage course and would I like her to have a go? You bet!! I can't explain exactly what she did and I guess even if I tried to duplicate it myself it wouldn't be as effective - but what a very relaxing experience it was! It occurred to me afterwards that I have so few reference experiences for abdominal comfort - sadly the best it normally gets is a reduction in the relative level of discomfort if I'm honest - and that's been the case for more than 30 years, with fairly extreme travel sickness as a young child before that too. I think I generally carry very high background levels of tension in my gut - which is understandable in the context of CIPO but probably unhelpful to me overall. I don't yet find it easy to tell myself to relax.

Anyway, recovering from a particularly difficult couple of months or so, I found this very helpful; bowel behaviour has stabilised and the extra comfort achieved at the time has largely stayed. Initially I was tired afterwards but since then my energy levels have been pretty good because I feel as though I am digesting my food better. I am having another session next week and will let you know if this is more than just my optimism!!

I also appreciate that there can't be too many shiatsu therapists around who have then gone on to do abdominal massage, but still worth flagging this up I think as something potentially useful.

Has anyone else had it? If so what was the optimum frequency of visits ?

Skinny

6 replies

kimber
  • By kimber
  • Posted January 2, 2008 at 10:02 pm

Hi Skinny,

Sounds like a good thing so far for you. I started going to a physical therapist last month for scoliosis. One of the major things she did was abdominal massage. She was able to loosen a lot of the knots in my abdomen. I was able to lie on my left side for the first time in a while. I cannot do it a lot, but for short periods of time. I too have tried to duplicate it and have had some results but nothing like what she was able to accomplish.

I hope you continue to have good results.

Kimber

chewy1
  • By chewy1
  • Posted January 2, 2008 at 11:31 pm

That sounds really interesting. I've never heard of an abdominal massage. Did it hurt when she was doing it? I just wonder because my whole abdominal area is so tender to touch all the time.
Judy

Skinny
  • By Skinny
  • Posted January 4, 2008 at 5:59 am

No it didn't hurt - well only occasionally if she went in too deep by mistake, but she is very skilled and realised straight away without me having to say anything. Subsequent sessions (i have tried to get there every two weeks at the moment , but it's lapsed over Christmas) she has managed to get in deeper and we both feel as though the scar tissue throughout my abdominal area is beginning to move more easily and feels softer. I am still finding this very helpful, and I must emphasise again that it really is a very different experience when someone else does it for you!

A Happy and Healthy (or at least healthier!) New Year to you all.

Skinny

dutchess
  • By dutchess
  • Posted January 4, 2008 at 8:49 am

There is another therapy that might also help. It's visceral manipulation and was invented by a French osteopath. The therapist can gently manipulate the fascia of the stomach and the intestines along with other organs in the digestive tract, etc.

There are some physical therapists and osteopaths in the U.S. that have some knowledge of it. In addition, there are body work massage therapists that have studied it more extensively. Any one interested might want to call the Upledge Institute in Florida where some of these people have also studied sacral cranial manipulation.

I think it's worth a shot. It's given me some help.

kimber
  • By kimber
  • Posted January 4, 2008 at 1:46 pm

Hi Judy,

For me, the first time she did the massage, I actually started crying because it was so tender. Even though she was barely pushing at all. But when she started losening the knots, it was like the pain just gently drained away. I used to have a band of knots that were so tied up you could acutally see it standing out. Most of the time it doesn't quite hurt when she does it now. Almost but not quite, unless it has been a while and has tensed back up. I have tried it myself and have had some relief with it. I kind of drumb my fingers on my abdomen, you know like you do when you're bored. That's not how she did it, but that helps. She kind of pushed so slightly where the pain was and it breaks up. I do that when I am desperate and it takes it down half a notch.
Kimber

Pebbles5410

I had a pediatric nurse who is also a massage therapist show me what she calls "threading". It is used on newborns and is very much like pushing the string through the hood on a jacket. It is used to try to activate the bowels so they are functioning. I started doing for the "threading" for 10 minutes when I wake up in the morning and at night and, of course, if I am in pain. Monday night I thought I was going to have go to the hospital with another obstruction but after a lot of massaging/threading, I got some relief and didn't have to. This is the 8th month that I haven't been in the hospital. That's a record so I am going to keep massaging.

Carol

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