craniosacral therapy questions

[Guest guest]

Hi all, I have several questions for those of you who have had craniosacral on their babies.

1) Did your child cry through the whole procedure?

2) Did you have difficulty finding a practitioner & what kind of practitioner did you use? (e.g. osteopath, physical therapist, occupational therapist, massage therapist)

3) Were you given instruction on how to do CST at home? If so could you feel the areas (bumps) to be massaged?

4) Does anyone know of a good website or book for learning CST?

Here's why I ask.... Adele cried through both visits with the osteopath, so much so that he doesn't want to treat her when she's that upset. Personally I think she's always going to cry hysterically when someone's touching her head, especially when that person is male.

There are a couple of female occupational therapists in town who do cranio-sacral, but their training is oriented towards use for psychological reasons not cranial plate shifting. There are also several massage therapists in town who report to do cranio-sacral, but again I don't know their training is advanced enough to treat the eye & ear misalignment issues that I want addressed.

The osteopath tried to give me some idea of how I could do some basic CST at home. But I couldn't feel the bumps he was referring to at all. I seem to recall that someone's baby had pronounced bumps on their head after DOC Band graduation -- perhaps this is the same things I should be looking for?

It would be helpful for me to hear your experience. Thanks.

-

[Guest guest]

,

My pt also used craniosacral techniques, and showed me how to do them myself at home. We really only did two different techniques, and they were more for dissipating his lump (in his case a blood mass- that could have turned fibrous) with a direction of energy exercise, and a relaxation technique that allowed him to relax on his own, without manipulation. I was VERY skeptical at first when she seemed to be just sitting there meditating with him, I was ready for deep stretches, but she used this to calm him down in the beginning of therapy, but like your daughter, he did not always like anyone's hands on his head. I found that doing the techniques at home really worked for us, he was more comfortable, and I usually would do them when he was sleeping. There is an exercise that we would do that you could see his shoulders just drop from relaxation, if you email me, I can elaborate on this technique. I'm not sure if your osteopath was looking for "pressure points" when you say bumps, we did not experience that. I will try to answer some of your questions below, as it relates to our experience:

) Did your child cry through the whole procedure?

Some days yes, other days, was so calm and serene. It was basically a holding techinque for each exercise, so on some occassions, he would not want to sit there and do nothing while we tried to entertain him with keys, ID badge, whatever. Other days, it was a piece of cake. Although I think I had better luck on average than the pt did- always more comfortable with mom, not to mention, I did a lot while he was sleeping- it was just easier and I could get the work done without stressing him

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/30/2002 11:27:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time, rella1234@... writes:

Did your child cry through the whole procedure?

,

Forgot also to mention that when he was crying, it wouldn't work- it was counterproductive to what she was trying to do, in other words it made him more stressed and mad, so we would give up and do something else. I was so glad that he was such a great sleeper- I got a lot in while he was conked out!

' Mom

[Guest guest]

,

Thanks for the web links and information about your son's

craniosacral therapy. It's interesting that your PT only used the

techniques when your son wasn't crying. Other's have said that they

got big releases when their child was screaming frantically. Perhaps

there are two differnt techniques here -- one for psychological

relaxation and another for release of physical cranial tension?

I'd be interested in more details about the particular therapy

techniques they taught you. If you'd like to email me directly at

wweiher@... that would be great.

-

> ,

> My pt also used craniosacral techniques, and showed me how to do

them myself

> at home. We really only did two different techniques, and they

were more for

> dissipating his lump (in his case a blood mass- that could have

turned

> fibrous) with a direction of energy exercise, and a relaxation

technique that

> allowed him to relax on his own, without manipulation. I was VERY

skeptical

> at first when she seemed to be just sitting there meditating with

him, I was

> ready for deep stretches, but she used this to calm him down in the

beginning

> of therapy, but like your daughter, he did not always like anyone's

hands on

> his head. I found that doing the techniques at home really worked

for us, he

> was more comfortable, and I usually would do them when he was

sleeping.

> There is an exercise that we would do that you could see his

shoulders just

> drop from relaxation, if you email me, I can elaborate on this

technique.

> I'm not sure if your osteopath was looking for " pressure points "

when you say

> bumps, we did not experience that. I will try to answer some of

your

> questions below, as it relates to our experience:

>

> > ) Did your child cry through the whole procedure?

>

> Some days yes, other days, was so calm and serene. It was

basically a

> holding techinque for each exercise, so on some occassions, he

would not want

> to sit there and do nothing while we tried to entertain him with

keys, ID

> badge, whatever. Other days, it was a piece of cake. Although I

think I had

> better luck on average than the pt did- always more comfortable

with mom, not

> to mention, I did a lot while he was sleeping- it was just easier

and I could

> get the work done without stressing him.

>

> >

> > 2) Did you have difficulty finding a practitioner & what kind of

> > practitioner did you use? (e.g. osteopath, physical therapist,

> > occupational therapist, massage therapist)

> >

>

> Luckily my pt introduced us to this type of therapy.

>

>

> > 3) Were you given instruction on how to do CST at home? If so

could you

> > feel the areas (bumps) to be massaged?

>

> Yes, and it was actually homework that she would ask, did you do

the

> direction of energy, relaxation of shoulders- yes. I would

incorporate my

> own style of massage daily, especially facial and around the ear

massage, and

> she did want us to massage downwards his rib cage area, shoulder-

which we

> did both at home and at pt on some occassions. With the CST, we

did not feel

> bumps like your talking about- we would feel his lump, and for the

other

> technique, we would place a finger at the base of his head where

the

> vertebrae sticks out, but never had us looking for bumps. It was

more nickel

> weight type of force (very light) and one or two fingers that would

be placed

> in certain positions.

>

> >

> > 4) Does anyone know of a good website or book for learning CST?

>

> I have attached a few links below- I couldn't really find too much

on the

> actual techniques, more of just how it works.

> >

> > Here's why I ask.... Adele cried through both visits with the

osteopath,

> > so much so that he doesn't want to treat her when she's that

upset.

> > Personally I think she's always going to cry hysterically when

someone's

> > touching her head, especially when that person is male.

>

> This is why you might have better luck doing this on your own,

after learning

> how to do it. I hope this helps a bit. Good luck!

>

> ' Mom

>

>

> <A HREF= " http://www.upledger.com/therapies/cst.htm " >Craniosacral

Info</A>

>

> <A HREF= " http://www.ohwi.org/techniqu.html " >Osteopathy Info</A>

>

> <A HREF= " http://www.makewayforbaby.com/massages.htm " >Baby

Massage</A>

[Guest guest]

,

I have heard parents talk about the crying release also- so I'm not sure if

this was just a different technique or what. Ours was done for muscle

relaxation- it was not ever done to move any cranial structure or ear

misalignment, but solely done to release tension in his tight muscle, and to

help dissipate his lump. Sometimes she would continue while he was crying,

and he would stop and relax- other times, he was to wiggly to stay put and

she couldn't " make " him relax, so it was not going to work when this exercise

was supposed to calm him, rather than irritate him. I'll email you

personally with some details of what she did.

' Mom