-
cranial sacral therapy… thoughts?
Im seeing a gentle force chiropractor tomorrow who also does cranial sacral work. Has anyone had experience with this type of therapy? Something just doesn’t seem right with my body overall, took over a week off the pole,have been doing yoga thought that should surely help! But no. Shoulder, foot and hip issues. I have a feeling i caused all of this by poling for a year with no instruction, learned the very hard way. ( Thank you Veena for changing that for me) Any experiences and or tips with this therapy would be greatly appreciated
-
15 Replies
-
I have. Did 14 sessions of cranial-sacral therapy after I got into a car accident where I was rear-ended when my car was at a complete stop. The chiropractor said I should be back to normal after 6-8 sessions…but nope. Not only that…my condition got worse…much worse. From minor ache on lower back to “I-can’t-get-out-of-bed” pain.
Several times I wanted to end the session entirely…but the chiropractor talked me into sticking with it and that I will see good results…that this is a “recovery period” and your body will take time to adjust…blah blah blah…a decision that I totally regret.
My primary care doctor said chiropractor really irritated my back with cranial-sacral therapy, she end up giving me muscle relaxing medication for 2 months so my back will have time to heal then she send me off to physical therapy.
I was sooooo upset at the chiropractor …I was doing SO WELL on the pole, I nailed tricks after tricks…and because of CST, it made my back worse…I was forced to stop poling for almost a year. After months of physical therapy…I’m finally able to pole again. I lost all my strength but at least I’m back on the pole.
Again, this was my personal experience with a particular CST chiropractor…your situation might be different.
All the Best~
-
Wow that sounds horrible! Do you have an alternative you’d recommend? This woman came highly recommended by a lady that had the opposite of your story,car accident, bulged discs, whip lash.. tried regular practitioner as well as massage, chiro and pt with no relief. 2 visits with this gal and her life changed. Im hoping having open energy to this experience will help me heal as well.
-
@ shoogstandley – The chiropractor that I went to was highly recommended by a friend too..she said she had 2 car accidents and this lady fixed her back within 5-6 visits using CST.
I guess at the end it really varies from person to person…What I learned is…if the first 2 sessions feel “off” (no improvement, got worse or the chiro make excuse like “your body is just adjusting to it”) BAIL immediately…
What I found was physical therapy helped me heal correctly and how to workout safely while pole is helping me strengthen my back and core and maintain it that way. The physical therapist made sure I’m doing all the right exercise to strengthen my back muscle first so I won’t hurt myself, when my back got strong enough, I start my regular pole work.
If the CST is not working out…try physical therapy. Again, depends on the doctor and your body too…
-
I honestly don’t know much about it, however in taking a few minutes to google what it’s about, I think it falls under the Pseudoscience category in my book. If you do go please be careful and speak up if something doesn’t feel right!!
-
i like to think energy plays a huge role, only from my own practice with yoga, breath and meditation. And i did notice the “quackery” reference, i guess I’m into that wired stuff ! because it’s made a huge change for me i will definitely listen to my body . Taboo medicine i suppose! Thanks for the input, i guess i thought more people were open to self healing and energy work. But I’m happy to have info on both sides!
-
I’m very much into mind body work, I meditate and have had great success with self hypnosis. I do most of my continuing ed in mind body so that’s not why I would be hesitant. I’m just very leery of claims that sound too out there and have no scientific proof. The websites I saw seemed unimpressive to me, but I’m just skeptical at first, seeing claims that this can cure disease sets off a red flag. If there’s no potential for injury then nothing wrong in trying it, however I’m guessing it’s not cheap. I’m always hesitant with any kind of body manipulation done by someone else.
-
I see where you’re coming from my only thing is I feel like I’m not able to do the energy work that I could potentially need done with balancing my chakras or maybe waking up some of my muscles that are neurologically asleep so to speak I sure hope I’ll be able to have a success story to share with you all because the older I get the more I realize that everything we need is inside of us sometimes we just need a little bit of help:)
-
I studied Level 1 from the Upledger Institute, and it’s still not an easy therapy to explain. It didn’t really come into play until Mom was diagnosed with BPPV and Meniere’s disease, which are fancy terms for she can’t have her neck in extreme positions without a vertigo attack and she has to be cautious with sodium intake to not trigger an attack. It’s very subtle in the technique, but it can produce results with the right therapist. No one therapy works for every one, and it’s not a replacement for a therapeutic massage, adjustment, etc. I took me a lot of practice to be sensitive enough to feel the “wave” of the cerebrospinal fluid (it has its own rhythm like the circulatory system and respiratory system). When you first learn it, you’re feeling for differences in the right and left sides (ideally it should be even), the pace, and how strong or sluggish. I’m working with the cranial bones that do move, but only millimeters in comparison to a hinge joint or ball and socket joint. It’s not so much feeling what’s out of place (although that would affect the rhythm), but feeling for restrictions in the tissue underneath. If you do CS on someone with meningitis, it would be very painful. For Mom, every time I do it with her she says she feel ten pounds lighter in the head. I can tell she’s “off” when she rocks back and forth when sitting still or when her eyes don’t focus. She is disabled and I live with my parents and do regular neck and shoulder massages and CS when she needs it. She’s a very independent woman, so the last few years were difficult because she doesn’t feel confident to drive solo, however the CS, atlas orthogonal adjustments, and massage improve her quality of life. Sometimes she says she feels like she’s dropping even though she’s perfectly safe in the bed or massage table. It does have a science to it (read Upledger’s two textbooks), and it’s because of where the spinal cord attaches to the spine. The myofascial techniques happen to be where you would put your hands for reiki, and that’s why it sometimes gets confused with energy therapy. I’ve had it done do me when my belayer dropped me ten feet on my back and my therapist focused on my sacrum. I did that for a year and it worked for me…it just depends on what your medical history is. Some people will argue it’s a very deep therapy even though the techniques are very subtle. For example, if the sphenoid bone is ‘off’ then everything is off because all of the cranial bones connect to it except the jaw and that might be the cause of your headaches or even tmj because the mandible connects to the temporal bones and the temporal bones are off because the sphenoid bone is off. I hope that helps!
-
Wow okThat’s great to hear , my symptoms are minor but irritating, shoulder neck tension, hip aches and foot pain. I’ve tried a regular chiropractor as well as massage with little relief . My appointment is today and i will follow up and share my story. Thank you again you clearly are very educated I this i appreciate your response!
-
I spoke with my family practitioner this am,for some mental reinforcement:) he advised that i listen to my body but that it is a very effective method and like most body mind treatments seem to be lacking the proof. Ill be the proof i say! Thanks for all the input.
-
Unfortunately, it’s still a relatively unknown therapy. Try a different chiropractor. I’ve done massage therapy for nine years in May and I’ve worked for a few and they all have different techniques. It sounds like your hips are off and maybe it’s making one leg “shorter,” causing the feet to hurt, but again it depends on the person. Mom used to be able to handle manual adjustments and she has to have activator and the atlas orthogonal adjustment, but that’s enough for her. I work well with manual, but I do more activities so I need a stronger adjustment. We have the same chiropractor, and I will say his manual adjustments are gentle compared to my last one, but I feel it works better…sometimes stronger/more aggressive isn’t always better. I use a grid foam roller on a regular basis for tension in my hips and legs because I’m on my feet a good portion of the day (the surface makes a difference tile vs. carpet). I will say if you constantly look down texting, that will contribute to your posture and neck shoulder tension. You’re strong from pole dancing, hold the phone up to eye level.
-
Ok interesting thanks for the info. This lady is a gentle chiropractor as well does massage. Sounds like i may be on the right path and your so right about looking down i have 2 tiny men so i spend a lot of time looking down, you made me realize i could get down on their level more – im 5′ so i spend quite a bit of time looking up as well:) thanks for that reminder.
-
Here’s my follow up. I had my appt 2 days ago and i feel glorious. After finding out my entire left leg and foot was out , as well as several ribs, my pelvis, as well as c2, c1 and the one right above it were all out! !!!! Im so glad i bit the bullet and tried this new gentle Chiro, i also had several muscles that were out. Now I’m able to dance on the ball of my foot, and sneeze and stretch pain free. I got back on tues to see what my body needs more of. My Chiro is convinced it’s pole that held me together when i should have be in large amounts of pain 🙂 Thanks for everyone’s input and i certainly can say my body said Get help, ilistened abd will continue to. I def say Chiro is worth the money, im brutal when im in pain !!
-
Oh I’m so happy to hear it went well!!!
-
Thank you Veena!
Log in to reply.