Functional bowel disease or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a disorder of the functioning of the colon.
The syndrome is not serious but causes significant discomfort.
What is irritable bowel syndrome ?
First of all, the colon, also called the large intestine, is a part located between the small intestine and the rectum. It completes the digestion of food started in the small intestine.
Irritable bowel syndrome is not pathological. Nothing serious, but it can cause symptoms that affect the quality of life of people who suffer from it, such as:
- Abdominal pain
- Discomfort
- Transit disorders (diarrhea, constipation, see both)
This syndrome is common and affects 5% of the population and affects women twice as often as men.
What are the causes ?
Currently, the causes of the syndrome are poorly understood and multiple. However, we observe:
- A disorder of my intestinal mobility: that is to say that in people with this finding the contractions of the colon are either too strong or too weak. This disorder is the cause of episodes of diarrhea or constipation.
- Abnormalities in intestinal sensitivity: People suffer abnormally from normal phenomena like bloating, gas, abdominal pain.
- Inflammation of the intestines and abnormalities in the digestive bacterial flora: this can increase the production of digestive gases.
- Depending on the foods consumed, the problems are increased.
Facilitating factors
- Episode of fatigue and/or stress
- Gastroenteritis
- Psychological factors such as anxiety/anxiety
- An unbalanced diet, too fatty
What are the symptoms of the syndrome ?
There are 3 main symptoms which are:
- Abdominal pain
The pain is characterized by a cramping or spasming sensation and is located in the lower abdomen, at the level of the right or left iliac fossae, or in the region of the umbilicus.
- Bloating
They appear after a meal and may be accompanied by noise inside the digestive tract due to the movement of gases and liquids.
- Transit disorders
Such as diarrhea, constipation, or an alternation of both.
Treatment:
Treatment of irritable bowel is based on two principles:
- Changing your diet: avoiding processed and processed foods, noting the foods that cause symptoms (foods are specific to each person), taking pro/prebiotics.
- Stress reduction: through breathing exercises, physical activity, etc.
And osteopathy in all that?
An osteopathy session can be beneficial in relieving symptoms and reducing the severity of irritable bowel syndrome.
Osteopathy will have two actions on colopathy:
- Stress: osteopathy being global, it works using gentle techniques on stress. The practitioner has several techniques acting on it: at the level of the diaphragm (breathing muscle), via the autonomic nervous system.
- Intestinal motility: the osteopath uses visceral techniques on the attachments of the organs, the tissues which surround them, will have an action as well as vascular and/or nervous on these viscera. These techniques restore motor function to the organs, thus facilitating digestion.
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