Cureus. 2023 Jul 24;15(7):e42393. doi: 10.7759/cureus.42393.eCollection 2023 Jul.

Cheri Lotfi ¹, Jesse Blair ¹, Angela Jumrukovska ¹, Mackenzie Grubb ¹, Emily Glidden ¹, James Toldi ²

Author information

¹Osteopathic Medicine, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Bradenton, USA.

²Sports Medicine, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Bradenton, USA.

Abstract

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common gastrointestinal disorder that affects a patient for their entire life. Effective treatments for IBS are scarce, leading to an increased interest in alternative treatments such as osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT). OMT uses hands-on treatment to reduce pain through various methods. By focusing on visceral techniques, OMT can restore autonomic homeostasis and increase lymphatic flow. This literature review aims to investigate the efficacy of visceral OMT in reducing the severity of IBS symptoms. Five primary research studies were evaluated in this analysis. The concluding results show that visceral OMT effectively reduces the symptoms of IBS and improves patients' quality of life. Therefore, OMT should be considered an alternative therapy for treating IBS.