Cranio Sacral Therapy

We are all familiar with the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Like them, the craniosacral system can adversely affect the brain and spinal cord which can result in sensory, motor and intellectual dysfunction.

The name craniosacral in derived from the system's associated bones. Included are those of the skull, face and mouth - which make up the cranium - and of the spinal column which extends down to the sacrum. Membranes enclosing the brain and its hydraulic system connect the craniosacral system.

For 25 years, professor of osteopathic medecine Dr John Upledger has been the chief proponent of using the craniosacral system to evaluate and treat medical problems associated with pain and dysfunction. His research and clinical work with the craniosacral rhythm has led to the development of CranioSacral Therapy, a light-touch manipulative approach which has been effective with poorly understood dysfunctions, chronic pain, lowered vitality and recurring infections.

The positive effect of CranioSacral Therapy relies to a large extent upon the patient's natural self-corrective physiological activies. The therapist's light, hands-on approach assists the hydraulic forces inherent in the craniosacral system to improve the internal environment.

Because of its influence on many body functions, CranioSacral Therapy is used by a wide variety of healthcare professionals including osteopaths, medical doctors, physiotherapists, chiropractors, dentists, psychologists, psychotherapists, massage therapists and acupuncturists.

What is the Origin of CranioSacral System and its Therapy?
In other medical traditions, systems such as the meridians system found in Acupuncture have been around for many thousands of years.Today the Western medical fraternity recognise the respiratory and cardiovascular systems without question. But while they are not disputed today, debate concerning their reality raged in medical communities around the globe for centuries. Even today we are still discovering new systems - like the lymphatic system. Consequently, the history of the craniosacral system's discovery is still very recent. How was it discovered?

In the early 1900s, as an osteopathic student in Kirksville, Missouri, Dr William G Sutherland was struck by an idea. He saw that the bones of the skull were designed to provide for movement in relationship to each other. For more than 20 years he pondered the prospect of movable bones in the adult skull. He performed experiments on himself with helmet-like devices designed to impose variable and controlled pressures on different parts of his head. His wife recorded personality changes he displayed in response to different pressure applications; he described head pains, problems with coordination, etc., related to the varied presssures. In the early 1930s, under a psuedonym in the Minnesota Osteopathic Journal, Dr Sutherland published his first article about his work.

Based on his experiments, he developed a system of examination and treatment for the bones of the skull. Success with some patients followed and Dr Sutherland organised a small group of osteopaths who studied cranial work with him. His system became known as Cranial Osteopathy.

In 1970, during surgery on a patient's neck, Dr Upledger viewed the rhythmical movement of a membranous boundary of what appeared to be a hydraulic system. None of his colleagues nor any of the medical texts had an explanaton for his observation that the dura mater, the outer layer of meningeal membrane in the neck, visibly moved in and out at about 10 cycles per minute. He concluded that the pressure inside the membrane sac was fluctuating rhythmically.

Two years later Dr Upledger attended a seminar which explained Dr Sutherland's ideas and taught some of his evaluation and treatment techniques. Coupling his scientific background with a tactile sensitivity, Dr Upledger was quick to understand how a hydraulic system might function inside a membraneous sac encased within the skull and the canal of the spinal column. He has incorporated, extended and refined Dr Sutherland's techniques with great success. He has also made them easily accessible to many thousands of people, even those without previous medical knowledge.

In 1975 Dr Upledger was asked to join the Michigan State University Osteopathic College as a clinician-researcher and professor in the Department of Biomechanics. He led a multi-disciplinary research team made up of anatomists, physiologists, bio-physicists and bio-engineers through the maze of research which first established the scientific basis for the existence of the craniosacral system.

The team was able to explain in scientific and practical terms the function of the craniosacral system. It also showed how this system could be used to evaluate and treat malfunctions involving the brain and spinal cord as well as a myriad of other health problems that previously were misunderstood.

In the two decades since his original research, Dr Upledger has written three text books: "CranioSacral Therapy", "CranioSacral Therapy II Beyond the Dura" and "SomatoEmotional Release and Beyond" which explain the functioning of the craniosacral system in detail. He has also written a brief, helpful introductory volume, "Your Inner Physician and You." In 1985 he established The Upledger Institute, a clinical and educational resource centre in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Since then, over sixty thousand healthcare professionals have studied the therapeutic value of the craniosacral system.

How is CranioSacral Therapy Performed?

CranioSacral Therapy is a gentle, non-invasive manipulative technique. Seldom does the therapist apply pressure in excess of five grams or the equivalent weight of a British 5p piece. Examination is done by testing for movement in various parts of the system. Often, when testing is completed, the restriction has been removed and the system is able to self-correct.

Trained therapists are able to palpate the motion of the craniosacral system anywhere on the body. CranioSacral is most easily palpated at the feet as the distance from the craniosacral system tends to amplify the motion via the foots related motion. It is directly palpated via the bones of the skull, sacrum and coccyx because they attach to the membranes which actually enclose the cerebrospinal fluid. Palpation is also possible via all of the other bones of the spine and pelvis, and via the facial bones and temporomandibular joints but, because of their less direct connection with the hydraulic system, it is more difficult to detect the motion. Perhaps it is best to look upon it as learning to ride a bike – once learned never forgotten.

How does CranioSacral Therapy Help You?
Because each of us produces our own different reactions to trauma, stress and loss of healing capacity, we each present our own unique combination of ailments, pains and dysfunctions. And, because CranioSacral Therapy helps clear the way for our self-healing mechanisms to be more effective, its scope is very wide indeed.

Some more common difficulties that CranioSacral Therapy may help are:-

chronic pain
reduced mobility - 'stiff joints'
low energy
headaches and migraines
jaw (temporomandibular joint) problems
neuralgia (including trigeminal)
learning difficulties such as dyslexia and dyscalclia
menstrual and menopausal problems
clumsiness

In newborns, infants and children colic, hyperactivity, feeding and sleeping problems and faulty development are often helped by CranioSacral Therapy. Routine evaluation of newborns often reveals and permits the easy release of subtle strains and restrictions that may, if left, lead to chronic dysfunction later in life. This applies not only where birth has been difficult, but also with 'normal' deliveries.