CranioSacral Therapy: Is It for You?
Submitted by the Upledger Institute

The feeling of complete relaxation is not an unusual experience many clients have after receiving a craniosacral treatment. With a light touch (no more pressure than that of a nickel being placed on your body), the therapist gently assesses the body's craniosacral system, from the tailbone and sacrum to the head or cranium, and uses techniques to encourage the client's own self-corrective bodily functions.

The flow of the cerebral spinal fluid that surrounds and protects the brain and spinal cord puts out a rhythm or beat that a trained therapist can assess. This beat palpates at about six to twelve cycles per minute as the fluid moves and bathes the brain and the spinal cord. This is a large part of the craniosacral system.

Trained therapists are able to palpate the rhythm and determine the rate, amplitude, and quality of the motion. Furthermore, they are able to help the cerebral spinal fluid find its rhythm again, should it not be within the normal rates. Restrictions also occur that may have been caused from physical or emotional traumas, for example. Craniosacral therapy (or CST) will help to remove them.

Dr. William G. Sutherland, an osteopath, discovered in the early 1900's that the human skull had movable parts, much like the rest of the body's skeletal structure. Because of his work and of others who followed him, we now know that many head problems are connected to a jammed connection or to a trauma along the spinal cord, including the head down to the tailbone. One can impact the other at the opposite end.

So how can this kind of therapy help you?

People who suffer from migraines and other types of headaches, injuries involving the head, neck, and back (such as whiplash), general cranial stiffness, sacrum or tailbone trauma such as from a fall, and general stress are best aided. Craniosacral therapy will also improve the functioning of your brain and spinal cord, enhance your resistance to disease, and improve your overall health.

As the field of psychoneuroimmunology has expanded, the connection that the cerebral spinal fluid has with the body's ability to communicate to the brain in the matters of traumatic information has been uncovered. One of the major "highways" of communication between the body and the brain is the cerebral spinal cord (along with the neuroendocrine system). Studies and clinical applications have shown positive effects of this kind of body therapy with clients experiencing post-traumatic stress.

Unlike massage, the clothes are left on for this type of therapy. Also, no manipulation occurs. Instead the therapist assists the body to balance and improve its own internal environment.

For more information, you can contact the Upledger Institute at 1-800-233-5880 or check out their website at http://www.upledger.com/. Also, check our Directory under "B" for bodywork.

Issue One Features
Issue 1 - Page 1
The Storyteller
Fear of Intimacy
CST: Is It for You?
Sister-Friend
Child's Death
Acupuncture
Women and Health
Internal Conflict
Old Ways
On the Spot with Maria Susan Greene

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