Practice of Peritoneal Adhesions in Osteopathic Medicine: Part 2

Abstract

Peritoneal adhesions are an unwanted and frequent event following abdominal surgery, with a response rate that can reach 100%. The adhesions can be symptomatic, becoming a source of pain and discomfort for the patient, or asymptomatic, with possible chronic or acute visceral dysfunction. The article reviews what the diagnostic strategies are and discusses what could be the causes that lead to chronic pain in the presence of adhesions. The text reports the knowledge of the literature on the manual treatment of adhesions and illustrates possible symptoms that are not easily recognized by the clinician. To conclude, the article proposes osteopathic manual approaches derived from clinical experience and from what has been explained about the formation of peritoneal adhesions. Research must make further efforts to identify not only the causes triggering the formation of peritoneal neogenesis but also seek the most appropriate non-invasive treatments to help the patient.