4 ms·

http://skepdic.com/craniosacral.html http://skepdic.com/craniosacral.html > Craniosacral therapy (a.k.a. craniopathy and cranial osteopathy) is a holistic ther

by cbd1984 11y ago

http://skepdic.com/craniosacral.html http://skepdic.com/craniosacral.html > Craniosacral therapy (a.k.a. craniopathy and cranial osteopathy) is a holistic therapy that involves the manipulation of the skull bones (the cranium) and the sacrum to relieve pain and a variety of other ailments, including cancer. [snip] > Craniosacral therapists claim to be able to detect a craniosacral "rhythm" in the cranium, sacrum, cerebrospinal fluid and the membranes which envelop the craniosacral system. The balance and flow of this rhythm is considered essential to good health. The rhythm is measured by the therapist's hands. Any needed or effected changes in rhythm are also detected only by the therapist's hands. No instrument is used to measure the rhythm or its changes, hence no systematic objective measurement of healthy versus unhealthy rhythms exists. [snip] > Skeptics note that the skull does not consist of moveable parts (unlike the jaw) and brain cells lack actin and myosin (the things in muscle cells that make them move). The only rhythm detectable in the cranium and cerebrospinal fluid is related to the cardiovascular system, but craniosacral therapists deny craniosacral rhythms are due to blood pressure. When tested, therapists have been unable to consistently come up with the same measurements of the alleged craniosacral rhythm. (Dr. Ben Goldacre says there have been five such published studies and "in none of them did the osteopaths give similar answers.") http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cranial.html http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cranial.ht... https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/alas-poor-craniosacral/ https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/alas-poor-craniosacral/ In case anyone else was curious.

foxbarrington 11y ago
My views on craniosacral therapy are complicated. On one hand it seems crazy, and most of it has to be bunk. On the other, I credit the treatment with curing my pulsatile tinnitus. An interesting note is that the practicioner I saw also had low regard for the field as a whole, and I don't think she would give a blanket recommendation for treatment. The practicioner I saw had good knowledge of anatomy and was not into the mystical/rhythm side of things. Most of her work was on muscles and getting them to loosen up.
- cbd1984 11y ago
  Sounds like a good massage therapist could have done the same thing without the patina of bullshit. The essence of craniosacral therapy is moving the bones in your cranium. That's the top part of the skull which protects the brain. In adults, those bones are fused, and no longer move; they're still distinct pieces, but the only time you're going to get any flexion up there is if your skull has been fractured. So any massaging of that region isn't being done to move the bones, it's being done (whether the practitioner knows it or not) entirely for the benefit of the muscles, which is what helped you.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

by cbd1984 11y ago

foxbarrington 11y ago

My views on craniosacral therapy are complicated. On one hand it seems crazy, and most of it has to be bunk. On the other, I credit the treatment with curing my pulsatile tinnitus. An interesting note is that the practicioner I saw also had low regard for the field as a whole, and I don't think she would give a blanket recommendation for treatment. The practicioner I saw had good knowledge of anatomy and was not into the mystical/rhythm side of things. Most of her work was on muscles and getting them to loosen up.

cbd1984 11y ago
Sounds like a good massage therapist could have done the same thing without the patina of bullshit. The essence of craniosacral therapy is moving the bones in your cranium. That's the top part of the skull which protects the brain. In adults, those bones are fused, and no longer move; they're still distinct pieces, but the only time you're going to get any flexion up there is if your skull has been fractured. So any massaging of that region isn't being done to move the bones, it's being done (whether the practitioner knows it or not) entirely for the benefit of the muscles, which is what helped you.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]