Tina Findlay: Hi. I'm Tina Findlay with Tina Findlay Craniosacral Therapy in Farmington, New Mexico. I began my bodywork career in 2001 as a licensed massage therapist. And I had an introduction to craniosacral therapy in massage school, and I was really intrigued by the idea that gentle bodywork could have such profound and lasting results.

I began taking courses in craniosacral therapy with the Upledger Institute and I'm now a certified craniosacral therapist, teaching assistant, and study group leader with Upledger Institute. So, what is craniosacral therapy? It's a gentle hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the functioning of a body system called the craniosacral system.

This system is comprised of the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and the spinal cord. By freeing the central nervous system to perform at its best, craniosacral therapy naturally reduces pain and stress. This strengthens your resistance to disease and enhances your health and overall well-being. And because it's so gentle, craniosacral therapy has proven effective for all ages, from newborns through the entire life cycle. It's performed in a quiet setting, the client remains fully clothed and lying on a comfortable massage table.

Craniosacral therapy or CST, has its roots in osteopathy. The pioneers of osteopathic medicine were Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, he was a Civil War surgeon, and Dr. William Sutherland. Dr. Still found that traditional medical practices at the time were often ineffective and could even be harmful. So, he devoted the remainder of his life to the study of the human body and developing alternative means of treatment.

His philosophy of treatment became known as osteopathy, and this new medical approach incorporated his core beliefs, and it's based on three principles. The first one is that structure and function are interrelated. Each structure has a shape that supports its function from the smallest parts of the cell to the arrangement of various bones and organs within the body. They all function in relation to each other.

His second principle is that the body is a unit and that all the systems are connected to one another. The circulatory system serves all other systems of the body and the nervous system receives information. throughout the body and sends signals and regulates the systems based on this input. And the fascia, or the connective tissue, is continuous throughout the body and it surrounds every structure. Osteopathic treatments are often successful because the practitioner is able to locate the origin of the problem. And sometimes that's a distance from the symptoms that the patient is experiencing.

Dr. Still's third principle is that the body is a self-correcting mechanism, that there's an innate ability of the human body to heal itself. So, the osteopathic approach involves facilitating or enhancing the body's own natural capacity when traumatic or disease processes become overwhelming for the system.

 Building on Dr. Still's work, Dr. William Sutherland pioneered the evolution of modern craniosacral work. When he was at the American School of Osteopathy in the late 1800s, he became fascinated with the bones of the cranium. Though he'd been taught that these bones fuse in adulthood, their structure seemed to imply that they were designed for movement. And Sutherland's discoveries resulted in the creation of the field of cranial osteopathy

The term craniosacral was first used by a colleague of Dr. Sutherland in 1951 to describe the presence of synchronized, coordinated movement in the head, the spine, and the pelvis. The concept of cranial bone movement was further developed in the 1970s through the research performed by Dr. John Upledger and his associates at the University of Michigan. Dr. Upledger was invited to the university specifically to prove or disprove Dr. Sutherland's practice of osteopathy. And his research focused on the movement of the cranial bones at the sutures.

Another really important contribution of Dr. Upledger was his focus on the dura mater lining, the interior of the cranium and the formation of the intracranial membrane. Within the actual brain structure, he developed specific techniques to not only promote the release of the restrictions in the cranial sutures, but to release restrictions within the actual dura and the intracranial membranes. Since the dura mater is a type of connective tissue, and it's continuous within the remainder of the connective tissue throughout the body, release of these restrictions can affect the function of distant parts of the body.

A very important feature of craniosacral therapy is the attention given to the body's fascial system. Since the dura mater is the core of the system, the most important facts relating to this is the fascia's tensile strength, which is up to 7, 000 pounds per square inch, and its continuity throughout the body. So, restrictive patterns within the fascia can translate their forces in unique ways throughout the system. In other words, each trauma that the body endures will be adapted into the system in some way. When the body is overwhelmed with trauma or unable to adapt any further, that's when pain and dysfunction occurs. Craniosacral therapy uses palpation on different parts of the body to locate and treat these restrictive patterns. Restrictions can begin within the cranium that over time are translated to distant parts of the body, and the opposite is also true.

One of my favorite examples of this is a former Olympic high diver, Mary Ellen Clark. She was suffering from vertigo and was unable to dive and pursue her dream of competing in the Olympic Games in Atlanta. Although, you know, she had access to the latest in diagnostic technology and the best treatments available, her symptoms persisted. So, a friend suggested that she consult a craniosacral therapist. The therapist found multiple restrictions throughout her fascial system, one of which included her right knee. And once this particular area was released, Mary Ellen's vertigo began to subside during the treatment. And she couldn't remember ever having an injury to her knee. But later, she remembered falling on her knee as a child. So, it's thought that the knee restriction translated forces over the course of 10 years, into a part of the dura that was lining the temporal bone in the skull. The inner ear mechanism is housed within the temporal bones. And it's thought that the restrictions were enough to alter the position of the temporal bone and create faulty feedback from the inner ear. After the treatment, mary Ellen was able to return to competition and she ended up winning a bronze medal for the United States.

In my practice, I've worked with many people with complex medical conditions, so I work with their healthcare providers to provide the best outcomes, that's why I prefer the term complementary treatment as opposed to an alternative treatment. There are many times that craniosacral therapy is very effective as a treatment on its own. headaches, migraines, stress and tension-related problems, TMJ, fibromyalgia, and other connective tissue disorders work beautifully with craniosacral therapy. But I found that when working with complex conditions, such as people undergoing cancer treatment or chronic diseases like MS, Parkinson's, or Alzheimer's, craniosacral therapy is a wonderful and effective adjunct to their traditional treatments.

Craniosacral therapy has been very effective with people suffering from concussion and other traumatic brain injuries and with those suffering with PTSD. Many victims of concussion injuries report signs and symptoms years after the incident. In a study that was conducted in 2014 and 2015, there was a team of physical therapists, osteopaths, and other allied health professionals that discovered that specific manual therapy techniques applied to patients with post-concussive syndrome provided significant results for future concussion recovery. The patients in this study were retired professional football players, both from the NFL and the Canadian Football League, and they were all medically diagnosed with post concussion syndrome.

Posttraumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is considered a type of anxiety disorder triggered by a traumatic event. It occurs when the body and mind has not yet recognized that a traumatic event is over. As a result, the body's sympathetic nervous system, which is the fight or flight system, is activated. And the body responds by continuously mobilizing muscles and other body systems for defense or numbing. People with PTSD become overly attentive to the internal reminders of past danger, and at the same time, they lose their connection to the external cues in their environment that tells them that the threat is over and that they're now safe.

 A craniosacral therapy session is deeply relaxing to the body's central nervous system, which is the parasympathetic system. And as that is activated and balanced, it results in a decrease of stress hormones. When I work with clients with severe PTSD, we work closely with their top therapists for the best results and the client's safety.

So, thank you very much for having me today and listening. And in closing, craniosacral therapy is a safe and effective treatment option for a wide range of conditions. Thank you very much and have a wonderful day.