The power of osteopathy lies in customization. No patient and no complaint is the same.
Recently, I saw a 51-year-old man with persistent abdominal complaints. He was eventually diagnosed with ACNES: a condition in which small nerve branches in the abdominal wall become compressed, often resulting in severe pain. An anesthetic injection provided temporary relief, but because the symptoms kept recurring, he was on the waiting list for surgery to sever the trapped nerve.
In my experience, this group of patients often responds well to osteopathy — provided we can explain why the complaints arose. In his case, there was a clear key. Three years earlier, he had hit the side of a wild water rapids ride hard, resulting in broken lower ribs. Additionally, he remembered a sharp impact at the age of eight, when the handlebars of his BMX bike struck the same region of his abdomen with force.
As an osteopath, I do not focus solely on the site of the pain, but primarily on the structures with the greatest loss of mobility. In this case, I found relevant restrictions in the membranes surrounding the small intestine and the abdominal wall, which potentially contributed to his complaints.
The first treatment was followed by a clear reaction: three days of increased pain and elevated intestinal activity. To me, this was a sign that the body was responding to the treatment and that we had likely moved in the right direction. After three treatments, his abdominal complaints had disappeared.
I saw him again four months later. The abdominal complaints had vanished, but he was still experiencing pain high in the lower back. This time, my attention focused on the capsule of the right kidney — consistent with the same trauma mechanism. I expect to see him one more time.
These types of cases emphasize to me time and again: understanding where complaints originate makes treatment more effective and sometimes even renders surgery unnecessary. Does this sound familiar? Do not continue to live with complaints for too long when the cause remains unclear.
Interested? We have also dedicated a podcast episode to this: Osteo Talkings, episode 16 “A different perspective on ACNES”.
