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Cranial Osteopathy/Cranio-Sacral Therapy

Physiotherapist

Critical Thinker
Physiotherapist
Joined
Nov 27, 2004
Messages
361
A colleague of mine was telling me that she is doing a training course in Craniosacral Therapy with the Upledger Institute.

She was raving about it, but does it work or is is just another SCAM similar to homeopathy?
 
Scam.

A few years ago I had a very bad stiff neck, with a spasmed muscle. The girl I went to for massage suggested I also see her flat-mate, who did osteopathy. She (the flat-mate) did some stuff to the neck which seemed rational and seemed to help. She then persuaded me to let her do "cranial osteopathy" on my head.

I'd call it homoeopathic massage. She moved her fingers very gently, just barely moving the skin of my head in relation to my skull bones, all the while coming out with a stream of woo about how she was moving the sutures of my skull and so getting the flow of my CSF correct. If she was close to right, washing one's hair would be tantamount to suicide!

When I pointed out that the skull sutures fuse immovably long before the age I was then, she told me about the BSc course she'd done which told her how all this worked. Total pseudo-science. No relationship to actual anatomy at all. And she had the most bizarre ideas about other aspects of cranial anatomy too.

The really distressing thing was that she really did have a BSc in this nonsense, from a UK "university" (former technical college) which was once a reputable establishment.

Rolfe.
 
Physiotherapist said:
A colleague of mine was telling me that she is doing a training course in Craniosacral Therapy with the Upledger Institute.

She was raving about it, but does it work or is is just another SCAM similar to homeopathy?
Click to expand...
Scam.

Speaking of raving... that "Dr." Upledger is a raving lunatic.

Ample proof of this can be found here:

http://www.massagetoday.com/columnists/upledger/articles.html

My Dolphin Mentor is one of my favorites.

I said aloud, "I'm going to use some dolphin energy here." The therapeutic energy input increased significantly at this time.
Click to expand...
:cs:

That man is the mayor of Crazytown.
 
One of my woo-er friends got a new roommate a few months ago. I asked who it was, to which he replied:

"My craniosacral therapist"

Why was she moving in with him? She needed to save money to pay back her student loans, from going to school for TWO YEARS to become a craniosacral therapist.

Not surprisingly, she was a total flake, and he kicked her out.

Although, it's a pretty good scam...give expensive head massages that don't wear out your fingers. I could have charged extra for giving people extra-crappy shampoos when I was a hairstylist.
 
I was watching the Shiatsu masseurs at Schipol a week or so back, thinking- here's something which is perfectly legal, extremely pleasant , clearly helps travellers relax and seems to carry no "woo" baggage at all- at least as applied in that place.

I've never actually tried it , as I'm scared they might try to justify it on some daft grounds which would just raise my blood pressure.

Just watching relaxes me.

Inaction at a distance.
 
At least they named it properly, if you know what a sacrum is.
 
Do not say that things do not work until you have tried them for yourself.

I have had extremely profound experiences both as a patient and as a practitioner of craniosacral therapy.

Craniosacral therapists DO NOT just work at the head. When I treat someone, I will normally go to the feet first. By going to the feet, I can pick up the twists and pulls and restrictions in various places in the body. It is from here that I will then work out where else I need to go on the body to help release the restrictions that I have found.

During the course of treating a patient I will most definitely go to the sacrum and pelvis, the solar plexus and sometimes the heart area or wherever else is indicated. I will work at the head too and will then end the treatment at the feet to ground the person.

Rolfe,

Cranial osteopathy and craniosacral therapy are different. A lot of cranial osteopaths will work primarily at the head, whereas craniosacral therapists will work with the whole of the body.

I suspect that some fascial unwinding would have helped your neck.

You can find out a lot just by putting your hands on someones body and listening in stillness.

So, don't knock it until you have tried it!!
 
Sarah-I said:
So, don't knock it until you have tried it!!
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You have a reading problem? I did. It's nonsense. And the theory behind it is nonsense too, being based on blatant lies about the anatomy of the head.

Rolfe.
 
Sarah, I have a little flask of a tincture my grandson made, by mixing whatever he found in our spice rack, plus various things from the fridge, plus a few things I don't wanna know about. It tastes just awful, but it can cure a cold in two hours.

Don't believe me?

Well, have you tried it? No? Then don't knock it, OK?

Hans
 
Sarah-I said:
Do not say that things do not work until you have tried them for yourself.
...
Click to expand...

Other than your lack of reading comprehension... I also know that this is often touted on the listserv I participate on for my son's severe speech disorder.

I know enough about the brain anatomy (from reading several books on the subject and browsing http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/introb.html ), and particularly where his damage is as noted by a CT scan, several EEG's and report from more than one neurologist -- to KNOW that the damage is under the skull near Broca's area. I so not need to try it to know that any massage that is going to effect that area will probably kill him.. and any light touch massage is going to be worthless.

Plus, there have been several messages on the listserv where desperate parents have tried for their kids and found it worthless. Even from the list's resident loony-tune who keeps touting chelation and expensive supplements. Even SHE found it worthless.

But then... you are welcome to explain the science behind and present scientific documentation that the energy fields do exist and waving your hand effects them. You can use the link above to bone up on neurology.
 
Sarah-I said:
Craniosacral therapists DO NOT just work at the head. When I treat someone, I will normally go to the feet first.
Click to expand...
Then that is not craniosacral therapy.

Oh, and if you give someone a pedicure, that's not a haircut.
So, don't knock it until you have tried it!!
Click to expand...
I can cure all your health problems by driving a stake through your heart... for a mere $500 plus travelling expenses and the cost of the stake. Don't say it doesn't work until you've tried it yourself. That would be narrow-minded.

From Donk's link:
Craniosacral therapists claim to be able to detect a craniosacral "rhythm" in the cranium, sacrum, cerebrospinal fluid and the membranes which envelop the craniosacral system. The balance and flow of this rhythm is considered essential to good health. The rhythm is measured by the therapist's hands. Any needed or effected changes in rhythm are also detected only by the therapist's hands... When tested, several therapists were unable to consistently come up with the same measurements of the alleged craniosacral rhythm.
Click to expand...
They all agree that this rhythm exists, that they can detect it, that they can alter it, and that they should be allowed to charge money for this service. But show several of them the same patient, and ask them to detect this magical "rhythm"...

They're either delusional or just plain con artists.
 
Sarah-I said:
Do not say that things do not work until you have tried them for yourself.

I have had extremely profound experiences both as a patient and as a practitioner of craniosacral therapy.

...(snipped other stuff)...

You can find out a lot just by putting your hands on someones body and listening in stillness.
Click to expand...

Sarah, I can very easily say something doesn't work if basic science and anatomy oppose it, and there's no evidence of said procedure's effiacy. I don't need to try homeopathy, because I know there's no logical or practical way for homeopathy TO work.

Your "profound experiences" are meaningless in that context - I can just as easily say that I had a headache in the afternoon, I drove out to the Indian casino, won $500, and my headache went away on the drive home. Did the Indian casino cure my headache?

As a semi-unrelated aside, I think my hair stylist performs some craniosacral therapy on the sly. I mean, I always feel better after she washes my hair. :)
 
Ditto Rolfe, HCN's, and Dr. Adequate's comments regarding craniosacral.

I'm most dismayed that, at least in the U.S., the American Osteopathic Association has not put forth a policy statement - either way - addressing craniosacral therapy, and in not doing so have done what is therefore tantamount to passively endorsing its incorporation into the curriculum of many osteopathic schools.

By the way, the vast majority of osteopaths I know and have come in contact with professionally also believe it's bull****.

Addn'l References:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...d&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=10709302&query_hl=5

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9806622&query_hl=7

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...ed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=8090842&query_hl=7

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...d&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=9513867&query_hl=10


-TT
 
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