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Craniosacral Therapy For Chronic Pain

Written by Sharon Tan

Certificate Craniosacral Therapy (CST) (Level 1 and Level 2) (The Upledger Institute)
SomatoEmotional Release (SER) (Level 1) (The Upledger Institute)
Certified practitioner in Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)
Certified practitioner in Matrix Reimprinting

What is Craniosacral Therapy

Craniosacral Therapy (CST) is a gentle hands-on therapy that releases tensions in and around your central nervous system, so that every other systems in your body can relax and self-correct.

CST works on the understanding that imbalance of the nervous system can adversely affect the development and performance of the the brain and spinal cord and contribute to sensory, motor and/or neurological disabilities.​

Although there’s touch involved, CST is more like a listening than a massage.

With a very soft touch, the therapist feels and follows the subtle motions of your tissues, even in the deeper layers, so that your body can reveal where it needs help. We then facilitate the release of blockages in these tissues, in order to bring a healthier and balanced state to your body. ​

After a CST session, most clients feel relaxed and calm. They also reported reduction of pain, increased sense of well-being, deeper sleep and improvement of some medical conditions. 

CST was pioneered and developed by Dr. John E. Upledger following extensive scientific studies in the 1970’s in the United States of America. It is a complementary therapy. It may be used alongside your conventional medical treatment but it does not replace it.

What conditions can Craniosacral Therapy help?

Because of the influence on the functioning of the nervous system, CST can benefit the body in a number of ways – from reducing stress and enhancing overall health to alleviating a wide range of specific medical conditions associated with pain and dysfunction, including:

  • Neck pain and back pain
  • Headaches and migraines
  • Central Nervous System Disorders
  • Post-Surgical Dysfunction
  • Fibromyalgia and other Connective Tissue Disorder
  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Among CST’s largest client groups are those suffering from chronic symptoms that haven’t been aided by other approaches. The extremely light touch involved with the application of CST makes it a safe approach for people of all ages, including children, infants as well as newborns.

How can Craniosacral Therapy help my Chronic Pain?

We find clients with chronic issues tend to have nervous systems which are heightened, this means that they are constantly in fight or flight mode aka Sympathetic state.

What CST does is to bring down this fight or flight mode and help down-regulate the nervous system to go into rest and digest mode aka Parasympathetic state.

In a way, we are retraining and rebooting the nervous system to go back into what it should be doing – regulating the ups and downs of our body systems.