Craniosacral Therapy (CST)

As you go through life, your body accumulates traumas – big and small – from injuries, illnesses, repetitive movements, and other everyday events. To cope, it compensates – perhaps by moving in new ways to avoid pain. As it does, the fascia (the network of connective tissue that runs throughout your entire body) changes as well – often developing restrictions as it adjusts.

The restrictions in the fascia put tension on your other internal structures, creating a “ripple effect” that may be felt as chronic pain far from the site of your original injury. Thickened tissue from an old ankle sprain, for example, can be the source of headaches.

If restrictions develop in the tissues and fluids that surround and protect your brain and spinal cord, (the craniosacral system), it can affect how your central nervous system functions – and that can affect your entire body. The result can be symptoms as diverse as chronic migraines, low back pain, vertigo or recurring ear infections.

Finding and treating the source of symptoms such as these can be difficult, but that’s where Craniosacral Therapy (CST) can help.

CST is a light-touch therapy that is gentle enough for babies and seniors, which was developed by John E. Upledger, an osteopathic physician and professor of biomechanics. It locates the source of your problem, releases the restrictions and relieves your symptoms, so that your body can self-correct and heal.

CST is an effective tool for finding the source of your pain when it isn’t at the site where you feel it. It has proven to be useful even for people whose symptoms have not responded to other treatment methods.

• Migraines and headaches
• Chronic neck and back pain
• Motor-coordination impairments, such as the effects of stroke
• Closed-head, brain and spinal cord injuries
• Chronic fatigue
• Fibromyalgia
• TMJ Syndrome
• Scoliosis
• Tinnitus, hearing loss and vertigo
• Learning disorders
• Stress disorders and insomnia
• Infant colic

Your craniosacral system runs from your cranium (your skull, face and mouth) down to your sacrum, or tailbone area, and it is made up of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect your brain and spinal cord. If you develop restrictions in the membranes of this system, it can change the flow of the fluid and directly affect all aspects of your central nervous system.

During treatment, a trained CST practitioner gently palpates various parts of your body with their hands to evaluate the flow of your cerebrospinal fluid as it circulates throughout your brain and spinal cord. (It has a rhythm that can be felt throughout the body, just like the pulse of the cardiovascular system.)

By carefully “listening” with their hands, they locate areas where the flow is weak or tissue is restricted. Then, they trace the restrictions through your body to the original source of dysfunction. Using gentle hand pressure – generally no more than the weight of a nickel – they release the restrictions in your tissue, relieve your symptoms and allow your body to heal.

The experienced therapists at Jericho Physio often combine Craniosacral Therapy with other fascia-focused treatment methods, such as Myofascial Release and Visceral Manipulation, so that they can get to the source of your problem and relieve your symptoms in every affected area.

For more complex chronic pain patterns, we offer multiple-hands therapy sessions – affectionately known at Jericho as “tag team physio” – in which two physiotherapists work together during the treatment session to treat longer lines of fascial restrictions in your body, (multiple, related restrictions in your fascial network that are caused by a continuous line of tension).

For more information about CST, please visit www.upledger.com.

To arrange an appointment, please call our office at 604-228-1474 or use our online request form.

For easy reference, print our Craniosacral Therapy information card.