What is Craniosacral Therapy and How Can It Be Used in Pain Relief?

Osteopathy is a healing procedure many adopt to better deal with the pain caused by various health problems through the use of massage and movement of skeletal muscles and bones.

By 1900, osteopath William Sutherland noticed that the sutures joining the temporal and parietal bones indicated articular mobility.

Based on this finding, Dr. John Upledger devised craniosacral therapy - a special massage therapy, which mainly involves the therapist subtly massaging certain portions of the sacrum, skull, and spinal column with precise movements and soft touch pressure no greater than five grams.

This is believed to be able to relieve the soft tissues surrounding the central nervous system of compression and stiffness, which originally might have caused you an extreme amount of discomfort and pain, not allowing them to function normally.

Practitioners believe that CST helps improve the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid. Osteopaths, physiotherapists, massage therapists, chiropractors, and other practitioners of complementary medicine, trained and certified in this stream, incorporate craniosacral therapy into their regular care practices.

You may have to take multiple sessions anywhere from 3 to 9, to start feeling long term benefits of this therapy.

The Advantages of Craniosacral Therapy

The therapy is a unique one because it refreshes different areas of the body and revigorates spirit and mind, allowing you to be generally more active and work more efficiently.

It relieves compression in the head, neck, and back, soothing pain and releasing both emotional as well as physical stress or tension. It’s also thought to help restore cranial mobility and ease or release restrictions of the head, neck, and nerves.

CST can be done as a part of your scheduled spa treatment or can be done for general maintenance of your body. Just like a car starts performing better after a tune-up, our bodies will also start working better after a therapy like this.

Craniosacral therapy may also help to tackle the following health issues:

1. Migraines, headaches and head-related trauma.
2. People suffering from constipation and irritable bowel syndrome can find relief since a lot of the digestive issues are caused by nervous tension and CST helps release those tensions letting the body relax.
3. CST helps improve and regularize sleep cycles, keeping insomnia away as the body is less stiff and better relaxed after the therapy.
4. Relief from pain caused by scoliosis and subsequent abnormal curvature of the spine.
5. Sinus infection is another ailment that can be battled with the help of such therapy.
6. Since the therapy mostly helps open up blockages and removes compression from the bones, it is a great way to remove neck pain.
7. The therapy can also help tackle problems like anxiety and depression by calming the mind and allowing the fluids to reach the entire body properly, thus allowing the patient to feel more relaxed and in control with the increased hormonal activity.
8. As craniosacral therapy can be applied to patients of all ages, babies who underwent a difficult birth can also be subjected this therapy. Sometimes, post a difficult birth, cranial bones can get misaligned or misplaced and if they are not brought back into the correct position, conditions like ADHD caused usually by birth trauma can manifest in a child.

Though there has been a lot of skepticism to the actual uses and benefits of craniosacral therapy, most patients who underwent CST claim that they have had considerable pain relief and general relaxation of their body post therapy.

Patients are advised to go for craniosacral therapy after proper consultation with a licensed medical practitioner.

Read our medical disclaimer here.