Subtle Yet Powerful Healing
Now there’s an odd term. My husband says it sounds like a form of church counseling. To better understand just what part of the body we’re discussing, “Cranio” refers to the cranial vault also known as the skull. “Sacral” is short for sacrum; the triangle-shaped bone at the end of the spine. Together they act as bookends, if you will, for your spine. The cranium, vertebrae, and sacrum are bones, but the focus of CS therapy is the nervous system protected by those bones. If the nervous system isn’t happy, no “body” is happy!
Now, think of your head and spine. It is shaped like a tadpole. There is a tube, the dural tube, (the tadpole) that contains your spinal fluid and encases your nervous system. This tube is connected to the lining of your skull and goes down the spine to the sacrum. The dural tube’s job is to pump spinal fluid. In order to pump, it creates a rhythm, and this rhythm can be felt by the human hand. By focusing on the head, cranium, and spine, which ends at the sacrum, we are able to assist the movement of the fluid and regain a healthy flow.
Osteopaths, or bone doctors, discovered that the bones of the skull never fully fuse together. Because of that, skull bones can actually move! That’s good because the dural tube couldn’t carry out its pumping mission if the bones were cemented. This has opened the door to CS therapy that can help with balancing the nervous system.
Why would you need to balance the nervous system? Because it can be injured or defective. The most common way the nervous system is injured is by falling. By a substantial impact to the head, or concussion you can shift the dural tube which encases the brain. When this happens, the pressure is placed on the brain. This can cause neurological disorders such as problems with balance, speech, and concentration. CS therapy can assist with relieving this stress by balancing the dural tube and rhythm.
If you fall down stairs or are thrown from a horse, the pelvis is often impacted. This can cause a kink in the Dural tube. When you have this type of disruption, it can affect the nervous system. You might experience persistent pain. In severe cases, organs can cease to function properly due to not getting signals from the nervous system. By working with the rhythm of the tube, this pressure, or kink, can be worked out and the nervous system restored to balance.
The great news is that CS therapy has been found to be effective for the treatment of brain disorders such as ADD and Autism. By releasing and shifting the dural tube, this area of the brain can balance and improve nerve function. In short, behavior can actually be impacted by CS Therapy! Many counselors and psychologist are now using this type of therapy to help children with disorders and it has proven to be effective.
Another profession that uses CS therapy is dentistry. People suffering from TMJ, or jaw pain, have found great relief with CS Therapy. Holistic dentists have been using this technique for years and now the therapy is becoming widely accepted in traditional circles as well. Often, it is not the bones, but the dural tube that causes a shift if the Mandibular joint. Nudging and working with the dural tube can actually balance and realign the joint.
To trained hands, the rhythm of the dural tube can be felt. It is this rhythm and the movement of soft tissues under the CS practitioner’s hands that inform and guide the therapist to treat areas that are limited in flow. The therapist understands the nervous system and is able to assist the body in self- correction. It is amazing how subtle this therapy can be, but how powerful and how profound the results are! As for technique, CS therapy involves extremely light holds of the head or sacrum. Do not misunderstand, this is not chiropractic adjustments by any stretch. It is gentle techniques that assist in the pumping of spinal fluid, which in turn, helps the nervous system.