Resources - Craniosacral Therapy (CST)

Chronic Pain

There is a series of articles that was published in Massage Today, a trade magazine for the massage therapy industry in the USA, in 2006 that address the connection between chronic pain and Craniosacral Therapy.  They were written by Tad Wanveer, CST-D LMT who stepped in for Dr. John Upledger for this series.  Take a look:

• Part 1 -- Starts with "CranioSacral Therapy has proven to be a powerful complement to massage therapy in addressing chronic pain...." and discusses how chronic pain affects the soft tissue in the body.
• Part 2 -- Discusses how pain signals are processed in the nervous system.

 Managing Symptoms associated with other diagnoses

Craniosacral Therapy can be useful in supporting your body to deal with other diagnoses, and managing the symptoms (or side effects of pharmaceutical treatment), such as:

• This blog post describes a study on the efficacy of CST for managing symptoms associated with Parkinson's Disease (Source: Parkinson's Recovery Project in Olympia, WA, USA)
• This online article by Dr. John Upledger describes how CST can help people who suffer from chronic headaches and/or migraines.
• A 2008 article published in the Journal of Gerentolgical Nursing found a statistically significant difference on a standardized agitation scale for older adults with dementia.

Support for Further Research

Craniosacral Therapy is suggested as a complementary modality, for many issues.  Primary research is emerging (here is an experimental protocol published in 2008 for evaluating CST in the treatment of migraines).  A systematic review published in 1999, criticizes the available evidence as not rigorous enough to scientifically support CST.