Craniosacral Therapy (CST) Positive Body Awareness
Andrew CookMSc RCST Transformational Bodywork
Conditions treated
Range of practice
I have used medical descriptions simply because that is the language that most people are familiar with.
However, everyone is very different in their history, their background level of health and in how symptoms originate and manifest.
This is not an exhaustive list, so contact me if you are uncertain, or if the specific condition you want help for is not on this list.
My experience is that the vast majority of people can be helped.
Information on how and who CST can help is divided somewhat arbitrarily into the following categories :
CST is not a replacement for medical care. If you have any symptoms that concern you, the first point of call should always be your GP.
CST has a very different system of differential diagnosis compared to mainstream medicine, so it is quite difficult to match Cranial clinical procedures against standard medical research into pathologies. There is a growing body of research into the effectiveness of CST - e.g. see the
Craniosacral Therapy Association Website,
and the
Craniosacral Research Blog.
General considerations
...each treatment is tailored to your specific needs...
It is important to notice the words "usually, often, may, can, ..etc" are liberally sprinkled through the text in this website. No two people are exactly the same. So two people with the same medical diagnosis will most likely have very different reasons why the particular problem happened, and very different responses to the same interventions. This individual vs generic diagnosis is not anything peculiar to CST. But most illnesses, diseases and medical interventions are discussed in the media in a "public health" context - i.e. the average of all cases becomes the norm that is described. I have yet to meet Mr and Mrs Average.
There is no 100% certain miracle cure or magic bullet - wherever you look, be it surgery, pharmaceuticals or alternative medicine. Having said that, of the cases I do see, well over 90% respond very positively to the treatment I provide. This is a very high success rate - particularly so when you also consider that CST is one of the safest therapies available - so safe that it is used to help newborn babies.
My definition of "Help" is that the treatments have coincided with a substantial reduction in the need for painkillers, anti-inflammatories or other palliative and non-critical medicines, and have left people feeling more comfortable in their bodies, and often feeling more embodied/ connected to their body, less distressed, and more resilient.
More on Adult treatments...
Craniosacral therapy (CST) provides a very universal approach to treatment, and so has been used in an extremely wide range of situations. I have provided some notes on a few types of condition that are presented fairly often in my clinic. These are not exhaustive. Contact me if you have any questions as to what kind of help might be available in any specific case.
Tight, spasming and painful muscles : The question is - WHY is the muscle tight? Tightness in the body can have many causes, but rarely are the tight muscles the primary cause. CST aims to help ALL of your body find an optimum balance, this being the most effective long term approach to resolve
tightness and pain.
Working with the spine is an everyday part of my practice. I have helped all kinds of spinal problems - lumbar (lower back), thoracic (rib cage/chest/upper back) and cervical (neck - including whiplash), sciatica (sacral) and coccyx injuries, scoliosis, torticolis, stenosis, and other back/neck conditions. When the bony spinal canal is narrowed (stenosis) by bone overgrowth or damaged spinal discs, this can cause a lot of pain and other problems such as incontinence, bowel problems and impotence. It is possible to feel tide-like movements in the spine, and these are called "Craniosacral Rhythms" experience shows that working to strengthen these rhythms often has very beneficial effects in cases of spinal narrowing and nerve compression.
Road traffic accidents (RTA) and other injuries requiring remedial work ... This is not a standard Physio approach - I can provide positive and useful input even if you are still wearing a plaster cast, and can often help when injuries and fractures are not healing quickly. The very light and safe style of contact used in CST also allows for work on very delicate areas such as impacts to the head and face, and can speed recovery from concussion.
Anything to do with the head and face... "Cranial" therapies (Craniosacral Therapy and Cranial Osteopathy) are quite unique in providing a safe, practical and non-invasive means to help with problems round the head and face - be they due to dental procedures (e.g. wisdom tooth removal), infections (e.g. post-meningeal syndrome), or impacts and fractures or anything else. As mentioned above, many head impacts or infections in the head (meningitis) result in a complex response similar to PTSD - even if there is no recognisably large "trauma". Medically this is being recognised more and more - e.g. Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS). CST is particularly good at helping this kind of problem, and I have a lot of experience and expertise in this area.
PTSD, shock and trauma are not strictly mental conditions, since they are held and processed on a physiological level. i.e. the cognitive thinking brain (the cortex) tends to be switched off and the more primitive parts of the brain (particularly the hindbrain) tend to be in control. So these conditions respond very well to more physical input such as CST. I have considerable experience in this area, and it's one of my specialities. PTSD-spectrum symptoms have a very wide range of possible ways to manifest, and may just as easily arise from poor boundaries during childhood as any obvious events that we would consider to be "traumatic".
Headaches & migraines are extremely unpleasant, and yet some people have them regularly, thinking that they are a normal part of life. I have a lot of experience treating migraines and headaches, and an excellent track record in helping to prevent them recurring. There are many different types of headache, and (from the point of view of CST) many different possible causes of headaches and migraines. The main aim in a CST treatment is to identify the cause of the migraine/headache, so that it can be addressed directly. There are an increasing number of studies available showing the effectiveness of CST in all kind of headache. e.g.
headaches/migraines arising in the neck ("cervicogenic headaches")
Posture and body alignment - I have worked with dancers, Yoga and movement teachers, and also have substantial experience helping people who have had spinal fusion operations.
Relaxation and other positive benefits... CST tends to be very deeply relaxing. In longer courses of treatment it also tends to increase the quality of embodiment.
Adhesions & scar tissue may arise from accidents, burns, operations and internal infections. They are common causes of all kinds of problems, from "poor posture" through to headaches, and most will respond very quickly to treatment.
Cancer is not treatable through CST. However, I spent some time on the first Big-C complementary (palliative) care programme at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, and so have some useful experience in helping people through cancer treatment and in reducing the after-effects of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and operation scars - and also the shock that sometimes results from diagnosis and treatment.
Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD) is quite common. The Temporomandibular Joint (jaw joint or TMJ) may be clicky, or even painful; the teeth may not meet properly, and/or the lower jaw may not be properly aligned with the face (Class I or II malocclusion). This is another area I have considerable experience in treating. Associated with this are general issues with the shape of the face (technically, the Faciomaxillary Complex). With the exception of the strong protective arches of the eyebrow ridges and cheek bones, most bones of the face are as thin as paper and easily deform. This loss of proper shape can come about through accidents and physical trauma, wisdom tooth extractions, `dental fillings that are too high, or persistent painful emotions over an extended period of time. The consequences may be conditions like TMD and tinnitus, but also may include breathing difficulties, anxiety and a host of musculoskeletal problems elsewhere in the body (including weakness/pain in the knees!) Craniosacral therapy (CST) is one of the few therapies capable of helping these issues, and I have seen a lot of very positive responses to treatment of the bones of the face.
General pain - there are a surprising number of cases of pain which are untreatable through mainstream medical interventions, but which, in my experience, respond positively to CST. Most chronic pain results in both physical and mental coping adaptations which often make the problem worse, or even end up continuing the pain well past the time when the body has physically healed itself (and so the pain should not be happening). My experience in treating PTSD-spectrum disorders gives particularly useful skills for working with chronic pain and central sensitisation.
ME, CFS & fibromyalgia are commonly treated using CST. I can usually help, but would need to carry out a full case history and also have about 30 minutes hands-on time to be able to have a clear idea of what a treatment programme might look like. A 2011 study showed that "at 6 months after a 25-week treatment period, patients in the intervention group showed a significant improvement in their levels of state anxiety, trait anxiety, pain, quality of life and Pittsburgh sleep quality index".
About 20% of ME/CFS cases I see are simple post-viral, possibly arising as a result of an undiagnosed meningeal infection. These respond relatively quickly and easily to Cranial treatments. Although there is a lot of individual variation, one of the most common causes of Fibromyalgia is chronic "body armouring", arising from a (usually) low level of PTSD.
Other conditions ... CST is a very adaptable and broad-ranging technique. It is particularly effective and quick-acting for helping alleviate loss of tissue motility associated with cystic fibrosis. I have also seen CST appear to reduce the frequency of epileptic events. It is also often helpful in cases of neuropathy (pain that has no identifiable cause) and other conditions not easily classified by the usual medical diagnostic system. If you have not found help from mainstream medicine or from other alternative/ complementary approaches, I may be able to help.
Most pain is caused by problems that are NOT in the area that the pain is felt. For instance, successful treatment of migraines and headaches through CST suggests that they can be caused by such diverse factors as local tensions in the head, TMJ problems, pelvic misalignment, dehydration, whiplash, food intolerances, PTSD/emotional shock or abdominal scar tissue. All of these different causes require different treatment approaches. So clearly, one medical diagnosis "label" does not necessarily define the remedy very well. People phone me and say "I have been diagnosed with XXX, can you treat it?", and every time the only honest answer I can give is - come for one treatment session, and I'll feel what your body is telling me, and then I'll be more able to answer your question.
My experience is that the vast majority of people can be helped.
Conditions treated
