CranioSacral Adults

Your Craniosacral session takes place in a lightly lit room with quiet music in the background while you lie on a padded table fully clothed enjoying the subtle smell of aromatherapy. Your craniosacral therapist will use a light, safe touch that’s different from other forms of bodywork. 

Most people leave feeling more relaxed and grounded and many experience a degree of symptom relief even after the first session. Conditions that tend to be more chronic will often take more sessions.  Everyone’s experiences are individual and may differ from one session to the next.  Sometimes symptoms can be aggravated by the work as things come to the surface. These sensations are temporary and a normal part of your body’s natural healing process and taking some time after a session to rest and relax is helpful.  Drinking more water following your session will be helpful as well.

Most people leave feeling more relaxed and grounded and many experience a degree of symptom relief  even after the first session. Conditions that tend to be more chronic will often take more sessions.

How a person responds to CST varies from individual to individual as well as from condition to condition.  Even if the condition is similar to anyone else’s.  It may be that one session is enough and it may be that a person benefits from 3 times a week over the course of several weeks.  Your therapist and you will discuss your options with you.

CST is a gentle technique of treating the membranes and cerebral spinal fluid that surround and protect both the spinal cord and brain.  This treatment supports the self-corrective nature of the nervous system by releasing tight structure/restrictions therefore improving the movement of information through the nerve channels, reducing pain and stress, strengthening immune system recovery and boosting health and well-being.  

CST is increasingly used as a preventive health measure for its ability to bolster resistance to disease. Its effectiveness supports a range of medical problems associated with pain and dysfunction.

The body depends on the brain and spinal cord (Central Nervous System) to function properly.

The health of your brain and spinal cord is heavily influenced by the craniosacral system (the fluid and membranes that surround, nourish and protect the brain and spinal cord).

Everyday life can cause strains on the Central Nervous System/CranioSacral System

This sequence explains quickly how this happens:

1. Stress and strain of everyday life happens
2. Your body then compensates for these stresses and strains
3. The compensation of these strains and stresses tightens tissues and distorts the craniosacral system (the fluid surrounding your brain and spinal cord)
4. The distortion of the craniosacral system can cause tensions to form around your brain and spinal cord
5. This results in restrictions.
6. These restrictions impact the ability of the brain/spinal cord to function properly and potentially every other system it interacts with causing symptoms such as digestive difficulties, migraines, back pain and difficulties managing stress just to name a few.

Fortunately, the restrictions are able to be detected and supported by your therapist allowing your body to self-correct.  Your therapist uses their hands to evaluate the rhythms of the craniosacral system by gently feeling various locations of the body.  They are looking for ease of motion and rhythm of the cerebrospinal fluid pulsing around the brain and spinal cord.  Once the locations of the restrictions are found your therapist continues to use the gentle touch to support your body in releasing them from the tissues.

CST is able to alleviate a wide variety of dysfunctions by enhancing the body’s ability to self-correct through this process of normalizing the environment around the brain and spinal cord.  

CST would not be recommended in the following conditions

• Conditions where there is a variation and/or slight increase in intracranial pressure would cause instability. 
• Acute aneurysm
• Acute cerebral hemorrhage
• Other pre existing severe bleeding disorders 

It was in 1970, during a neck surgery in which he was assisting, that osteopathic physician John E. Upledger first observed the rhythmic movement of what would soon be identified as the craniosacral system. None of his colleagues nor any of the medical texts at the time could explain this discovery, however.

His curiosity piqued, Dr. Upledger began searching for the answer. He started with the research of Dr. William Sutherland, the father of cranial osteopathy. For some 20 years beginning in the early 1900s, Sutherland had explored the concept that the bones of the skull were structured to allow for movement. For decades after, this theory remained at odds with the beliefs of the scientific and medical communities. Dr. Upledger believed, however, that if Sutherland’s theory of cranial movement was in fact true, this would help explain, and make feasible, the existence of the rhythm he had encountered in surgery.

It was at this point that Dr. Upledger set out to scientifically confirm the existence of cranial bone motion. From 1975 to 1983 he served as clinical researcher and Professor of Biomechanics at Michigan State University, where he supervised a team of anatomists, physiologists, biophysicists and bioengineers in research and testing. The results not only confirmed Sutherland’s theory, but led to clarification of the mechanisms behind this motion – the craniosacral system. Dr. Upledger’s continued work in the field ultimately resulted in his development of CranioSacral Therapy.

Taken from https://www.upledgerclinic.com