| Body Region: | Colon |
| Conditions Associated with TPs: | Spastic Colon, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) |
| General Symptoms: | Most common is alternating diarrhea and constipation sometimes with and sometimes without abdominal pain. |
| Common Causal Activities: | Stress, trauma, following surgery |
| Anatomy Picture: |  |
| Self Care: | This is very difficult to do for self care unless you have a hook tool. Without it you must use a three or four fingertip gripped hook to press down into the area of the Colon using the other hand to help pull the treating fingertips into the abdomen. With a hook tool it is much easier. See Detailed Instructions. |
| Therapist Care: | First of all, the contact must be perpendicular to the direction of the Colon and across it. The Colon can be a few inches wide so the best contact is a double hand overlay. This places the fingers of one hand over the backs of the other hand for support. The necessary support is to keep the fingers bending and curling slightly forward and not allow the fingers to arch backward which is natural in this position. This is to protect your hands. Stand next to the hip facing the opposite shoulder. Start at one end of the Colon and press slowly into the abdomen. Depth may be up to several inches on some people. This is a fairly slow motion process similar to the psoas muscles. Move the treating fingertips about one to 2 inches at a time until done. |
| Special Notes: | Don't confuse IBS with other intestinal disorders. Once a doctor hears the common symptoms a series of clinical tests can be conducted to find a cause for the symptoms. If nothing can be found the only diagnosis left is IBS which is the same as Spastic Colon. Your internist can explain the differences but essentially IBS is a muscle spasm in the muscles surrounding the Colon and producing peristalsis (movement of food byproducts through the Colon for elimination). |
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