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What is Visceral Synergy?

Visceral Synergy is a truly unique blend of naturopathic medicine, and visceral manipulation.

 

What is Naturopathic Medicine & Visceral Manipulation?

Naturopathic medicine is a personalized approach to health care that focuses on prevention, as well as uncovering underlying causes of the symptoms that are plaguing you.

Naturopathic medicine may help with the following:

Hormonal and neurotransmitter imbalances.

Oxidation-reduction imbalances and mitochondropathy. Detoxification and biotransformational imbalances.

Immune imbalances.

Inflammatory imbalances.

Digestive, absorptive, and microbiological imbalances.

Structural imbalances from cellular membrane function to the musculoskeletal system.

Visceral manipulation is a unique and special form of gentle manual therapy that addresses the visceral (organ) systems in the body and works with your own body’s ability to heal itself and achieve balance. For this reason, the goal of VM is not to “fix” something, but rather to help your body, with all of its ancient wisdom, to heal itself.

The function of the viscera relies upon interdependent movements that occur within and around all the organs. Due to the fascial and neurological connections between organs and the musculoskeletal system, the symptoms of visceral immobility or dysfunction can often be a musculoskeletal complaint. You are a web of interconnected tissues and each one of your organs relies upon interdependent movements that occur within and around all other organs. When you have an adhesion between two tissues or organs, there is a lack of free movement.

A few examples are as follows:

When the liver is not able to function at its optimum level, a referred pain can be felt in the right shoulder.

When there is congestion in the gall bladder or the presence of gall stones, there may be a referred pain pattern to the left side of the neck or to the right shoulder.

When there is a restriction in the cecum (the part of your colon located in the right lower quadrant of your abdomen), there may be a corresponding referred pain to the right knee or the right sacroiliac joint.

When there are restrictions in the sigmoid colon (the part of your colon located in the left lower quadrant of your abdomen), you may be experiencing left sciatic pain.

Dr. Mariotti's practice provides a unique blending of these two forms of medicine for a more personalized and comprehensive approach.

Important Details About Your First Session

Your first session with Dr. Mariotti will be a comprehensive and personalized assessment of your health concerns combining both naturopathic medicine and visceral manipulation. For this reason, it is important for you to have all of your intake forms completely filled out prior to your appointment.

Please be aware that if you do not arrive at your appointment with your intake forms completely filled out, your appointment will be rescheduled, and the $580 pre-paid fee will be used for the “missed appointment”. As the intake forms are quite lengthy, please do not wait until the day of the session to fill out these forms.

The first office visit will last about 1.5 hours. 

Please understand, even if you are a new patient being referred by another practitioner solely for visceral manipulation, you will first need to agree to this comprehensive first office visit.
 
About one week after your first visit I will be sending you a summarization of my findings, as well as any lab recommendations I might have for you. I recommend you share this information with your primary care physician, or your referring practitioner. If you find this review to raise more questions than answers I would encourage you to reach out to me and we can set up a telehealth visit to go over these details one step at a time. 

What to Expect from Visceral Manipulation

The goal of visceral manipulation is to improve the mobility of your organs, which is directly correlated with the function of those organs. As Jean-Pierre Barral (the developer of Visceral Manipulation) says; “An organ in good function has physiological motion.”

Please be aware, the goal of visceral manipulation is not remove adhesions. If you are suffering from visceral adhesions, as a natural consequence of optimum organ mobility these adhesions will, over time become inconsequential. 

The most effective and efficient way of achieving the goal of visceral manipulation is to maintain a singular focus on delivering a clear message to the body, as well as between the organs and the brain. For this reason, less is more with this kind of treatment. Simply spending extra time doing more things, and more treatment does not ultimately achieve the goal of optimum health and wellness.

The frequency of treatment, and spacing between treatment sessions is dependent on numerous factors:

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  • They type of restrictions you are presenting with.
  • The organs involved
  • The chronic nature of the restrictions
  • Your history of trauma and/or nutritional deficiiencies
  • Lifestyle choices that positively or negatively affect the health of the terrain (your body)
  • The health of your microbiome, the symbiotic organisms that live on and in every nook and cranny of your body
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How to Prepare for your VM Session

Please bring a pair of loose-fitting gym clothes or loose sweatpants and a comfortable T-shirt to change into for your session. Please do not wear tight yoga pants. For females, please refrain from wearing a bra (underwire or sports bra), as these types of tight-fitting garments can make it more difficult for me to evaluate subtle patterns of restriction that may, in fact, be the case of your symptoms for which you are seeking my services.

Please do not apply any lotion to your abdomen on the morning of your appointment, as this will make it more difficult for me to treat the abdominal organs. If this turns out to be the location, I will need to work.

What is a Bioimpedance Analysis (BIA)?

During your first office visit we will conduct a Bioimpedance Analysis (BIA), which is an economical and reproducible in-office test, which is sensitive to changes in tissue and fluid status.

The BIA also provides a useful, cost-effective tool to monitor the effectiveness of therapeutic lifestyle changes. In general, increases in phase angle, impedance index, and intracellular water are associated with improved health. Declines in body fat and extracellular water are also associated with improved health. That being said, although rare, it is possible to have too little body fat.

Although a valuable tool, the BIA cannot be used to rule out any specific disease. It is simply an indicator of health at the very basic level of cell membranes, intracellular and extracellular water compartments, and body composition, such as the percentage of body fat versus the percentage of fat-free mass, such as muscle.

In preparation for you BIA (to ensure an accurate reading) please abide by the following guidelines:

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  • No alcohol the night before your visit.
  • No food 4 hours prior to your visit.
  • No caffeine the morning of your visit.
  • No exercise the morning of your visit.
  • Drink 2 – 4 glasses of water 2-3 hours prior to your visit.