Craniosacral Therapy

[Physiotherapist]

Does anyone have any information or thoughts on this therapy?

[Mongrel]

Skepdic has an entry for it here and the Wiki article seems quite comprehensive as well.

My opinion - it's nonsense

[median]

Another serious disorder which can be treated by cranio-sacral therapy is meningitis. Inflammation of the meninges often occurs in more minor forms than full blown meningitis; these are usually described as meningism, or more frequently not diagnosed at all. These lesser forms are often the result of minor infections such as colds, flu, ear infections and such like spreading to the meninges. The effects, however, both in childsen and in adults are not necessarily minor, and can range from persistent headaches, neck pain, nausea, vomiting and visual disturbances to chronic hyperactivity, tantrums, exhaustion, debilitation or severe personality disorders, depending on the extent and severity of the inflammation. Cranio-sacral therapy, by directly treating the meninges, can be very effective in treating the aftereffects of such meningeal infiammations

And potentially dangerous >:( see http://www.ccst.co.uk/articles3.htm

[Physiotherapist]

I think I would disagree about being dangerous. I did read the whole of the article that you linked to and there was more behind it. I don't think they are talking about treating mengitis, only the after effects, so don't particularly think that there is anything dangerous about it.

[Big_Les]

I haven't found any references for this, but Randi claims:

"this specific form of quackery has caused several deaths, when practitioners literally crushed the skulls of child patients. It's a very dangerous form of pseudomedicine."

see http://www.randi.org/jr/112202.html

[Physiotherapist]

Not sure I agree with Randi either on that one. How can you possibly crush a skull when only using such light touch? Just not possible I think.

[Blue Wode]

I think I would disagree about being dangerous.

According to an article about cranial osteopathy (which is very similar to craniosacral therapy) in today’s Times, if the therapists don’t have sufficient training in differential diagnosis, it can be dangerous:

The novelist Michael Arditti turned to cranial osteopathy for back ache. It nearly killed him.

…..a friend urged me to call a husband-and-wife team of cranial osteopaths.....a single treatment cost £120.....The osteopaths came almost daily for the next five weeks, during which my improvements remained short-lived.....

What I find hardest to forgive is that their outlook, while in theory the antithesis of the belief that illness is a divine punishment, in practice amounted to much the same. They claimed that the pain was the product of the negative energy I had stored at the base of my spine during my years of depression and, when I was forced to cancel a holiday to which I’d been much looking forward, they accused me of being scared to take risks and finding an excuse not to go. In my enfeebled state, I believed them and, despite a high fever, made preparations to travel. Had I done so, I would surely have died.

Against all the evidence, they claimed to have healed me, and asserting that the pain, sweats and fevers were simply the negative energy working its way through my body. In despair, I called a doctor who had me taken to hospital immediately. My condition was diagnosed as discitis, an infection of the space between the veterbal discs, and a rare condition caused by a bug in the unpasteurised milk. As this was untreated for so long I developed septicemia, or blood posioning. For several days my life hung in the balance, but I was saved by the skill of the doctors.....

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...401094,00.html