Archive for the ‘Osteopathy’ Category
Osteopathy And Cranial Osteopathy Explained
May 13th, 2011 | Author: Pain
A physiotherapist, unless working privately, is under the direction of a doctor, who retains overall responsibility for the patient. Osteopaths work independently and not usually in collaboration with doctors, although many GPs do recommend their patients to them. Indeed there have been efforts to start a state register of Osteopaths, to give them the same standing as doctors and dentists.
Cranial Osteopathy, or Cranio-sacral therapy as it is also known, is a specialized form of manipulation involving the bones of the skull. It was developed by a student of Dr Andrew Still, a man called Dr William Garner Sutherland, in the early part of this century. Sutherland discovered that the bones of the skull are not fixed, but can move slightly. Although these movements are tiny, people can be trained to detect them through their hands. Cranial Osteopaths believe that by adjusting the position of the bones, which may have been displaced through injury or even when being born, positive changes to health can be affected.
This type of work is very different from normal Osteopathy as it involves only gentle holding – no manipulation of any sort. The therapist is trained to hold the head and feel the pulsing of the cerebrospinal fluid in the brain and in the spine – therapists claim to detect all sorts of information about the state of the body, and even feel the movements of the gut while just holding the head! Cranial Osteopaths still treat all the other parts of the body, but they tend to specialise in head injuries. One of the commonest problems they deal with is that of people who had difficult births and were delivered with forceps.
By readjusting the bones in the skull, which have been distorted through the birthing procedure, many symptoms can be affected. The therapy is very effective on babies or young children, who seem to respond particularly well to this reassuring form of healing.
Cranial Osteopathy is its proponent’s claim, suitable for many forms of illness, particularly complicated ones, which have a range of symptom patterns such as ME, gastrointestinal disturbances, and menstrual difficulties in women.
Osteopaths who have trained in Cranial Osteopathy with The Cranial Osteopathic Association have the letters MCrOA after their names. Quite a number of unqualified people are now practicing Cranio-sacral therapy too, and although many of them may be natural healers, and excellent therapists, you should check their credentials before you book an appointment.