Health care providers from Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont attended a four day Visceral Manipulation Seminar in early October at Hardwick Chiropractic, facilitated by Dr. Grace Johnstone. Attendees included Dr. Allison Bogan and Dr. Rick Eschholz of Hardwick Chiropractic. The seminar, taught by Barbara LeVann, PT, of the Barral Institute, instructed on osteopathic techniques to manipulate the abdominal organs.

Dr. Johnstone expresses, “After utilizing these cutting edge techniques for the past three years, I’m excited to be sharing them with other health care practitioners.” Visceral manipulation is a manual therapy in which gentle, specifically directed adjustments are used to restore normal mobility and motility to the organs and the surrounding connective tissue. Restrictions within the abdominal cavity were explored, particularly as they relate to the liver, kidneys, stomach, small intestines, and colon. Contributing factors to restriction within the abdomen include surgery, trauma, scar tissue, certain medications, and various disease processes, which result in difficulty with normal organ function. These techniques help people with gall bladder problems, acid reflux, vagal response, chronic constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, and hiatal hernias.

Dr. Grace Johnstone founded Hardwick Chiropractic 20 years ago. Presently, the practice serves patients from central and northern Vermont as well as northern New Hampshire. All three doctors at Hardwick Chiropractic use a number of chiropractic and osteopathic techniques that allow them to address a wide array of musculoskeletal, neural, and organ related concerns.