Impact of manual therapy on adhesion related symptoms post abdominal surgery: A systemic review

It is reported that 90 % of abdominal surgeries develop adhesions after 12-24 months of surgery Studies show that incidence of abdominal adhesions is found to be 93 % in upper abdominal surgery and 67 % in lower abdominal surgeries. The current treatment for abdominal adhesions are primarily surgical adhesiolysis and pharmacological management which are still under research for providing better outcomes and also have complication of developing further adhesions. A systemic review was conducted for evaluation of effects of manual therapy on adhesions related symptoms post abdominal surgeries. A total of 773 studies were identified using four different databases and five additional studies were identified by examining the studies and their references. The study included 9 articles screened on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria. The findings from this review indicate that manual therapy holds potential as a non-invasive treatment for managing symptoms related to post-surgical adhesions, gastrointestinal disorders and musculoskeletal dysfunctions related adhesions. Clinically, manual therapy may serve as an adjunctive therapy, and also complement the conventional medical and surgical interventions for adhesion related conditions.