CranioSacral Therapy is a gentle non-invasive manipulative therapy which removes restrictions that block the flow of cerebrospinal fluid which surrouonds the brain and spinal column. When these restrictions are removed, the CranioSacral system is able to complete it’s self-correction.
CranioSacral Therapy strengthens your body's ability to take better care of you. It helps alleviate a wide range of illness, pain and dysfunction, including:
Migraines and Headaches, Chronic Neck & Back Pain, Motor-Coordination Impairments, Infantile Disorders, Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries, Scoliosis, Central Nervous System Disorders, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, TMJ, Learning Disabilities, Emotional Difficulties, Stress & Tension-Related Problems, Chronic Fatigue, and many other conditions.
While the validity of the cardiovascular and respiratory rhythms are undisputed today, for eons the very existence of these systems sparked debate in medical communities around the globe.
Now for nearly 25 years, osteopathic physician and researcher John E. Upledger, D.O., O.M.M., has been a proponent of using the rhythm of another body system - the craniosacral system - to enhance body functioning, and help alleviate pain and discomfort.
The craniosacral system consists of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord. It extends from the bones of the skull, face and mouth, which make up the cranium, down to the sacrum, or tailbone area.
Since this vital system influences the development and performance of the brain and spinal cord, an imbalance or restriction in it could potentially cause any number of sensory, motor or eurological disablilites. These problems could include chronic pain, eye difficulties, scoliosis, motor-coordination impairments, learning disabilities and other health challenges.
CranioSacral Therapy is a gentle method of detection and correction that encourages your own natural healing mechanisms to dissipate these negative effects of stress on your central nervous system. You also benefit from better overall health and resistance to disease.
Because of its positive effect on so many body functions, CranioSacral Therapy is practiced today by a wide variety of healthcare professionals. They include medical doctors, doctors of chiropractic, doctors of Oriental medicine, naturopathic physician, nurses, psychiatric specialists, psychologists, dentists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, acupuncturists, massage therapists and other professional bodyworkers.
When you come for a CranioSacral Therapy session you remain fully clothed. You'll be in a quiet, relaxing setting. Your therapist uses a light touch to monitor and release restrictions that may be interfering with normal flow of spinal fluid. This helps to rebalance the central nervous system, which effects all the systems of the body, and restore it to its normal function. Your session will last for approximately one hour, but the relaxing effect will last for much longer.
Visceral Manipulation is based on the specific placement of soft manual forces to encourage the normal mobility, tone and motion of the viscera (organs) and their connective tissues. It encourages your own natural mechanisms to improve the functioning of your organs, the systems the organs function within and the structual integrity of the entire body. All this enhances general health and resistance to disease.
The Therpeutic Value of Visceral Manipulation
Life and motion are intertwined. Although we can have motion without life, we cannot have life without motion. Of particular importance are those motions - not ordinarily visible - that take place within the human body. They're linked to many levels of activity, from cellular pulsations to rhythmic contractions of the heart, diaphragm, even the craniosacral system.
The Visceral system relies on the interconnected synchronicity between the motions of all the organs and structures of the body. At optimal health, this harmonious relationship remains stable despite the body's endless varieties of motion. But when one organ cannot move in harmony with its viscera due to abnormal tone, adhesions or displacement, it works against the body's other organs and muscular, membranous, fascial and osseous structures. This disharmony creates fixed, abnormal points of tension that the body is forced to move around. And that chronic irritation, in turn, paves the way for disease and dysfunction.
Imagine an adhesion around the lungs. It would create a modified axis that demands abnormal accommodations from nearby body structures. For example, the adhesion could alter rib motion, which could than create imbalanced forces on the vertebral column and, with time, possibly develop a dysfunctional relationship with other structures. This scenario highlights just one of hundreds of possible ramifications of a small dysfunction - magnified by thousands of repetitions each day.
Thanks to the dedicated work of Jean-Pierre Barral, an osteopathic physician and registered physical therapist healthcare practitioners today can use the rhythmic motions of the visceral system as important therapeutic tools. Barral's research and clinical work with the viscera led to his development of a form of manual therapy that focuses on the internal organs, their environment, and their potential influence on many structural and physiological dysfunctions. The term he coined for this therapy was Visceral Manipulation.
Visceral Manipulation relies on the palpation of normal and abnormal forces within the body. By using specific techniques, therapists can evaluate how abnormal forces interplay, overlap and affect the normal body forces at work. The goal is to help the body’s normal forces remove abnormal effects, whatever their sources. Those effects can be global, encompassing many areas of bodily function.
