Adult Cranial Therapy

Cranial therapy is a light touch, manual therapy that addresses restrictions in the cranial system – the membranes and fluids that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord.

Cranial therapy is a gentle method of detection and correction that encourages your own natural healing mechanisms to reduce the stress on your central nervous system.

+ The Involuntary Motion in the Body

- Cranial therapists are trained to feel a very subtle, rhythmical shape change that is present in all body tissues.  This is called ‘involuntary motion’.

- The skull is made up of 26 bones which are intricately joined in such a way that during the rhythmical cycle of involuntary motion the skull can actually change shape very slightly to accommodate the normal involuntary motion of the brain inside.

- Impacts to the head can block or disrupt this movement. This can cause a very wide variety of problems both in the head and elsewhere in the body.

- Using voluntary motion in the tissues, cranial therapists can feel whether a person is in an optimum state of health, or whether there is something preventing healthy movement of the tissues from occurring.

+ What does treatment involve?

- A cranial therapist takes a detailed medical history from the patient followed by a careful examination. He/she will make a diagnosis of what is causing the symptoms, and try to put together the ‘story’ of why they developed.

- Using very subtle and gentle techniques, the accumulated stresses and strains in the body are gradually released.

- The aim is to relieve the current symptoms and also improve the underlying health of the tissues as far as possible, in order that they do not recur.

- This type of treatment is suitable for everyone from newborn babies to the very elderly, being extremely gentle.

+ What does Cranial Treatment feel like?

- Patients may feel sensations of pressure or warmth, either under the therapist’s hands or elsewhere. Most patients feel that gradually the tension is being drawn out of their body and they become deeply relaxed.

The Benefits of Treatment

+ Conditions treated by Cranial Therapist include

-Back and neck pain

-Disc problems

-Joint pain

-Headaches and migraines

-Facial pain

-Stress/Tension/Fatigue

-TMJ Dysfunction

-Nerve Root Compression

-Vertigo

-Sleep disturbance/difficulties

-Sinusitis

-Digestive disorders

-Period pain and irregularity

-Recurrent infections

-Asthma and chest complaints

-General ill health

-Childhood problems  (See our Paediatrics Cranial Therapy page)

-Behaviour difficulties

-Dyslexia

-Dyspraxia

-Learning Difficulties

+ The Benefits of Treatment

-Cranial therapy treatment is aimed not only at the relief of symptoms, but towards helping the body function better in all respects.

-Patients often report and improvement in general well being, energy levels, sleep patterns and also in areas of symptoms other than those that brought them to the crania therapist in the first place.