Osteopathic Manipulative Treatments and Neurogenic Bowel Dysfunction in Patients With Spinal Cord Injuries.

I.R.C.C.S. Fondazione Santa Lucia

Status

Completed

Conditions

Spinal Cord Injuries

Treatments

Other: Osteopathic Manipulative treatment (OMT)

Other: Manual Placebo (MP)

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT04367571

FSLCE/800/OMT

Details and patient eligibility

About

Studies based on the relationship between Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) and the gastrointestinal system have been conducted in patients with constipation with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), and in children with infantile cerebral palsy. For IBS patients, OMT can facilitate visceral vascularization and restore the physiological elasticity and motility of the viscera, and of the peritoneal structures around the viscera. The study also focused on the effects of OMT on women and constipated children, indicating an improvement in the stool consistency, reduction in the symptoms of constipation, the severity of the constipation, and in the use of laxative drugs.

In patients with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI), the secondary health disorders include the alteration of gastric acid secretion, abnormal colonic myenteric activity, and neurogenic bowel dysfunction (NBD). Patients with NBD present loss or absence of normal bowel function. About 80% of SCI is accompanied by NBD resulting in a lower quality of life caused by loss of independence, sense of embarrassment, mental disorder, social isolation.

Conservative treatments for NBD after SCI include oral laxatives, enemas, retroanal trans-grade irrigation and digital anorectal stimulation. These treatments are mainly focused on promoting intestinal faecal evacuation and on strengthening the anal sphincter to improve bowel function. There are no studies that investigate the effects of OMT on patients with SCI, however, several studies have already showed the effects of OMT on the nervous system, on the hemodynamic system, and on visceral motility. Therefore, the starting hypothesis of this study is to use OMT in order to improve the symptoms of NBD in subjects with SCI, through a global OMT

Enrollment

30 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18 to 70 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

age between 18 and 70 years old,
chronic spinal cord injury (more than six months between the spinal injury and the enrollment in the research),
injury classified per the ASIA impairment scale AIS A, B, C or D localized at a cervical-dorsal level up to D10.

Exclusion criteria