Why CranioSacral Therapy?

“Cranio… Sacral… So that’s like my head right?”

Yes, and your sacrum, the triangular group of bones at the bottom of your spine; also, your spinal cord, its surrounding tissues, the intracranial membranes of the head, the brain, the autonomic nervous system, and all of the muscles, structures and organs pertaining thereto. CranioSacral therapy goes beyond the traditional tissue manipulation of massage using a light touch to bypass the sympathetic nervous system and allow the body the opportunity to release areas of tension on its own, to self-correct and self-heal.

“Bypass what?”

The sympathetic nervous system is a part of the autonomic nervous system, the channels of communication between our brain and our tissues. When it receives a stimulus, the sympathetic nervous system activates our fight or flight response. This does not always consciously register to us as stressful as it sounds, but an over-activation of this response within our nervous system can lead to damaging effects on our tissues and viscera. Pressure and pain are stimuli and registered responses of the sympathetic nervous cycle, as are feelings of generalized stress, anger, and fear.

How to break the cycle

While there is certainly a time and place for Rolfing, trigger point therapy and other more physically intense modalities, I have found that the body is much more receptive to manipulation, and the changes in tissues and function tend to last longer when initiated from a place of compassionate pressure.

CranioSacral therapy uses  a technique called “melding” which is non-intrusive palpation. It is a transfer of information from client to therapist by way of synchronizing the parts of the body that are touching. When a therapist “puts hands on,” they lighten the pressure against the client to zero grams. This way, the therapist can use proprioception to evaluate the physiological relationship of the client’s tissues and the energy passing through them.

For certain treatment techniques, the therapist then begins to add one gram of pressure at a time in the direction of the tissue releases, maintaining a steady, gentle pressure when resistance is encountered in the tissues, and in some cases gradually increasing to about five grams of pressure, or the weight of a nickel.

When a lighter force is applied over time, restrictions tend to release more deeply. Have you ever stood on a dock and tried to pull a large sailboat toward you through the water? A twenty-foot boat won’t go far if you try to throw all of your weight against it in one pull. The combined resistance of the boat’s weight and the water will most likely give you a strain. However if you apply a smaller force, pull on the rope gently and patiently, the boat will glide toward you nearly weightless.

CranioSacral therapy uses the same principle with the fascia of the body. The fascia is a ubiquitous connective tissue designed to glide along itself to allow for our natural movement. Composed of collagen and elastin, it is also what holds and helps give structure to our other tissues. Much like the water in our sailboat example, it can be the resistance to or the permission for movement. When the therapist applies a smaller force over a long period of time the client usually becomes incredibly relaxed and their body, which intuitively seeks a state of balance, begins to release its tissue holding patterns. CranioSacral therapy allows for the natural release of tissues and has a higher likelihood to create a lasting change in the structure.

While many folks who have received bodywork in the tradition of sports massage or deep tissue believe in the old adage “No pain, no gain,” I tend to fall into the camp of “Less is more.” Whether I’m treating someone with chronic migraines, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction, whiplash, gastrointestinal issues, or debilitating back pain, it is usually the CranioSacral techniques that bring the most relief and fundamental change to the client’s body.