What is Cranio-Sacral Therapy?

 CranioSacral Therapy (CST) is a gentle, hands-on approach that releases tensions deep in the body to relieve pain and dysfunction and improve whole-body health and performance.

Using a soft touch which is generally no greater than 5 grams - about the weight of a nickel - practitioners release restrictions in the soft tissues that surround the central nervous system. CST is increasingly used as a preventive health measure for its ability to bolster resistance to disease, and it's effective for a wide range of medical problems associated with pain and dysfunction.

How does Cranio-Sacral Therapy Work?

Few structures have as much influence over the body's ability to function properly as the brain and spinal cord that make up the central nervous system. And, the central nervous system is heavily influenced by the craniosacral system - the membranes and fluid that surround, protect and nourish the brain and spinal cord.

Every day your body endures stresses and strains that it must work to compensate for. Unfortunately, these changes often cause body tissues to tighten and distort the craniosacral system. These distortions can then cause tension to form around the brain and spinal cord resulting in restrictions. This can create a barrier to the healthy performance of the central nervous system, and potentially every other system it interacts with.

Fortunately, such restrictions can be detected and corrected using simple methods of touch. With a light touch, the CST practitioner uses his or her hands to evaluate the craniosacral system by gently feeling various locations of the body to test for the ease of motion and rhythm of the cerebrospinal fluid pulsing around the brain and spinal cord. Soft-touch techniques are then used to release restrictions in any tissues influencing the craniosacral system.

By normalizing the environment around the brain and spinal cord and enhancing the body's ability to self-correct, CranioSacral Therapy is able to alleviate a wide variety of dysfunctions, from chronic pain and sports injuries to stroke and neurological impairment.

What is Visceral Manipulation?

Visceral Manipulation (VM) is a gentle manual therapy that assesses the structural relationships between the viscera (organs), and their fascial or ligamentous attachments to the various systems in the body. It assists functional and structural imbalances in every organ system of the body. 

How does Visceral Manipulation work?

An integrative approach to evaluation and treatment of a patient requires assessment of the structural relationships between the viscera, and their fascial or ligamentous attachments to the musculoskeletal system. Strains in the connective tissue of the viscera can result from surgical scars, adhesions, illness, posture or injury. Tension patterns form through the fascial network deep within the body, creating a cascade of effects far from their sources for which the body will have to compensate. This creates fixed, abnormal points of tension that the body must move around, and this chronic irritation gives way to functional and structural problems.

VM works by recognizing these tension patterns and works to restore the normal movement of the organ or structure using and gentle, rhythmic pressure, similar to the pressure used in CranioSacral Therapy.

Why CST and VM at Revibe?

At Revibe, CST is always practiced with Visceral Manipulation (VM) because the two therapies are really the same technique done on different parts of the body. They are both therapeutic in themselves and diagnostic for the more powerful technique of acupuncture. For those new to acupuncture, it is recommended to receive a few sessions of CST/VM to get an understanding of how your body responds to this type of very subtle work on the connective tissue system, because unlike a traditional sports massage that focuses on relaxing tight musculature, the fascial system connects the internal organs and structures in the brain. Furthermore, this will give the practitioner a good understanding of your body that can only come from “listening with the hands” for extended periods.