Symptomatology Correlations Between the Diaphragm and Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Open accessAbstract
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most debilitating and common gastrointestinal disorders; nevertheless, its pathophysiology is still unclear. It affects 11% of the world's population, and is characterized by alternating periods of pain and/or motility disorders with periods of remission and without any evidence of any structural and functional organic variation. It has been recently proposed that an altered contractile ability of the diaphragm muscle might adversely influence intestinal motility. The text reviews the diaphragm's functions, anatomy, and neurological links in correlation with the presence of chronic symptoms associated to IBS, like chronic low back pain, chronic pelvic pain, chronic headache, and temporomandibular joint dysfunction, vagus nerve inflammation, and depression and anxiety. The interplay between an individual's breath dynamic and intestinal behaviour is still an unaddressed point in the physiopathology of IBS, and the paucity of scientific studies should recommend further research to better understand the importance of breathing in this syndrome.
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Such exercises have also been shown to lead to improvements in anxiety and depression for groups with lower back pain and IBS.
“Such exercises have also been shown to lead to improvements in anxiety and depression for groups with lower back pain and IBS.56”
From Psychological interventions for women with persistent pelvic pain: A survey of mental health clinicians (2021) · cites this paper as [56]
The Review discusses low back pain, anxiety, and depression as conditions associated with IBS, but does not report improvements from exercises. The Conclusions (page not provided) explicitly state that there are no data on the impact of IBS therapies including diaphragmatic training, contrary to the claim that such benefits have been shown. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Bordoni, B., & Morabito, B.
- Affiliations
- Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Bordoni, Bruno
- Venue
- Cureus
- Published
- 2018-07-23
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- e3036-e3036
- ISSN
- 2168-8184 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6153095
- OpenAlex
- W2885008027
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 0.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Cureus (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Gastroenterology › Gastrointestinal motility and disorders
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Infant Health and Development
- Keywords
- irritable bowel syndrome, diaphragm, diaphragm contractility, intestinal motility, chronic low back pain, chronic pelvic pain, chronic headache, temporomandibular disorders, anxiety and depression, breathing, IBS pathophysiology
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