What Is Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy?

I received my first cranial sacral therapy treatment a week ago, and I have to admit that in some ways, I prefer it to massage. For the professional therapist, more advanced massage seminars offer training and education in pain and stress management, as well as in-depth instruction in medical massage, cross-fiber technique, Trager therapy, myofascial release, craniosacral therapy, seated massage, among others.
Whatever has brought you here, we are happy to share details of all our craniosacral therapy dangers training courses, help you explore what it takes to train as a CranioSacral Therapist, and discover why we think our world-renowned training courses have so much to offer.

By complementing the body’s natural healing processes, CST is increasingly used as a preventive health measure for its ability to bolster resistance to disease, and is effective for a wide range of medical problems associated with pain and dysfunction, including: migraine headaches; chronic neck and back pain; motor-coordination impairments; colic; autism; central nervous system disorders; orthopedic problems; traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries; scoliosis; infantile disorders; learning disabilities; chronic fatigue; emotional difficulties; stress and tension-related problems; fibromyalgia and other connective-tissue disorders; temporomandibular joint syndrome (TMJ); neurovascular or immune disorders; post-traumatic stress disorder; post-surgical dysfunction 4.
Craniosacral Therapy (CST) is a method focusing on the link between the cranium (head) and sacrum (the second to last bone at the base of your spine), scientifically proven to work in unison to pump fluid throughout the body, an unknown disruption of which can cause many health issues.

As polarity therapy practitioners we know that our hands are energy conductors, that as we touch our clients’ bodies they respond to our touch and also to our consciousness, and that our clients’ mind-body-spirit has its own intelligence and self-regulating capacity.

Using extraordinarily gentle touch, paired with keen hands-on listening skills, CST facilitates dynamic, positive structural change in a client’s body via contact points on the skull, sacrum, along the spine and across the major fascial diaphragms of the torso.

For those skilled in body psychotherapy or craniosacral work, it would be appropriate to consider stopping or ‘stilling’ the touch – the therapist may want to ask the individual, ‘What is happening for you?’ and ‘What do you need from me right now?’ These questions are an intervention and require the therapist to be able to work in a skilled, reflective and dynamic way.
So, researchers compared the diagnostics methods of two registered osteopaths, both with postgraduate training in diagnosis and treatment, using cranial techniques, palpated 11 normal healthy subjects.” Unfortunately, they couldn’t agree on much: interexaminer reliability for simultaneous palpation at the head and the sacrum was poor to nonexistent.” Emphasis mine.

In comparison to manual and non-manual sham treatments, CST effects on pain intensity and functional disability post intervention as well as six months after randomization were still found to be significant even if the respective studies with unclear or high risk of selection, performance, detection, attrition, reporting, and other source of bias were excluded.
In one study, researchers found that mixed LTMT, including craniosacral therapy, reduced anxiety symptoms in US service members struggling with chronic PTSD ( 5 ). These participants also had self-reported injuries to the head, and they underwent just 2 one-hour long LTMT sessions during the pilot study.
Pressure put on the spinal fluid can affect the entire body and cause aches, pains, problems concentrating, restricted movement, and other problems such as headaches, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, scoliosis, and other connective tissue and joint diseases.

Even the journal of Complementary Therapies in Medicine found insufficient evidence to support CST,” and Dr. Steve Hartman — an osteopathic physician himself — harshly criticizes CST: Craniosacral therapy lacks a biologically plausible mechanism, shows no diagnostic reliability, and offers little hope that any direct clinical effect will ever be shown … patients should invest their time, money, and health elsewhere.” Virtually the only thing CST is good for is that it is a relaxing touch therapy, but of course that can (and should) be separated from grandiose claims of therapeutic efficacy.