Re: response re cranial sacral

[Guest guest]

Osteopaths who specialize in CS are typically members of the Cranial

Academy and I believe that their CS training involves another 5 years

over and above what they get as osteopaths, which is already more

extensive in terms of time, than an MD gets.

A good CS person trained in that tradition, I'm told, will be taking

cues from your body as to what it needs and how much it can tolerate.

They will never push beyond that like, say, a chiro, who typically has a

preconceived idea of some ideal arrangement and tries to force you into

that.

I have had the opportunity to observe what is supposed to be one of the

best CS people in the country work with my wife, who would be an acid

test for the above criteria of gentleness and respect for individual

body characteristics (for those who don't recall she has not only CFS

but MCS, is a " universal reactor " and has a badly deranged autonomic

nervous system).

At first I thought that this guy somewhat lives up to the hype. Early

on, my wife saw some temporary settling down of her ANS symptoms,

generally lasting only a couple of hours but still very welcome relief.

Typically, she would then have a day or so of inflammation and

discomfort followed by general, but frankly slight, symptomatic

improvement. He also was helpful for some specific neurological pain

spots she had.

After some weeks of this the improvement, which was already questionable

at an uninsured $175 per treatment, seemed to fade and the side effects

seemed to increase.

Also, he has a fetish about jaw alignment and has done some moves in

that area that are his most physically aggressive and have caused

considerable TMJ discomfort that takes weeks to completely clear. This

I think is an instance of fixing something that's not broken, or at

least not at all a priority in my wife's case.

For the heck of it I had him work on me once. I wanted to experience

this for myself. I had no particular complaint, just told him to tune

me up. I frankly expected nothing, particularly since all he did was

passively touch a few spots on my head and body. However it gave me a

strong sense of euphoria which lasted about 24 hours and then bounced in

the other direction with 24 hours of irritability and depression. It

was quite the experience. I'm not sure what the point of it was

however. What I took away from it is he is definitely impacting

something energetically but to my way of thinking it doesn't rise above

the level of a parlor trick when he can't really articulate a goal, plan

or prognosis. His attitude is that the body will sort it all out, he

just nudges it along. If anything negative happens it's said to be part

of a " healing spiral " which is sort of his version of the homeopathic

concept of " healing crisis " . He is disinterested in medical history,

incurious about what specifically is going on with you as an

individual. He is very gentle and patient (at these rates he can

certainly afford to be), but, in the end, he would be content for you to

come to him for years regardless of the results. I think this is just a

little too much unaccountability.

Your mileage, of course, may vary. This guy sub-specializes in " fascial

release " which would not be the case with all CS osteopaths. He also

does some homeopathy and seems to have some iconoclastic attitudes and

ideas that differentiate him.

My wife went to him for the better part of a year because (a) she was

desperate for relief of any kind and ( this guy seemed slightly

helpful and seemed, for a time, to be getting at something that

traditional medicine was not. However, it didn't appear to address root

causes (yeah, I know Tony, I'm throwin' you a bone, okay?) and her body

(or her pathogens ... hard to tell the difference anymore) seems to have

found a way to work around whatever good it might have been doing. This

practitioner would say the body can deal with any pathogen if it is

properly balanced. It's a nice theory but just doesn't cut if for

someone with serious infections, not even in our case for purely

symptomatic relief.

Stepping back a level from this specific practitioner, I can say that we

have dabbled in other aspects of energy medicine -- Chinese,

anthroposophic, homeopathic ... and we think there is certainly

something to it, and can probably help people who aren't too far gone.

We have gone the energy medicine route when the more conventional

doctors have been frankly out of ideas, figuring it was better than

sitting around doing nothing. I think it is probably a waste of time,

however, for a person who has been chronically ill for many decades.

Such people have such a complicated clinical picture, and so little

reserves and energy, that whatever about this kind of treatment may work

in simpler cases, simply breaks down and is inadequate.

Come to think of it, you could say much the same thing about allopathic

medicine, really, in these challenging cases. Think about it: most of

the patients a doctor of any stripe sees, are the easy ones, who benefit

as much from a hand on the shoulder and a little hope as they do to

medical treatment. People generally get well, or at least better, in

spite of treatments, not because of them.

--Bob

amy poet wrote:

> I would not pick aMD for cranial sacral , as they do not have this

> specialty. The reason there are specialty practitioners out there is because

> a MD does not do PT, cranial sacral etc .

>

> even if a MD took a little training in CS I would not go.

>

> I spoke to a CS guy last night, who is also accupuncturist and yoga. He does

> not take my insurance but advised me. He suggests someone wiht alot of

> experience, not someone whos just taken one or two trainings.

>

> He has done CS for 10 years. He warned me there are poepl out there that do

> a lot of proessure trying to force your bones into place. He does not. He

> does something that sounded quite passeive and receptive to the needs of the

> individual.

>

> whe he was at a training, the class was supposed to rotate around practice

> partners. after tryinig afew newer people he did not trade around any more

> and stuck wiht an equally experienced classmate.

>

> When asked about whetehr it coudl fix sinus problems, he told of his

> experience wiht a patient who was destined for surgery (drilling????aauugh)

> as the DR said it was really bad case in sinus problem and CS was the last

> thing they could try before surgery. After 3 weeks of CS, 2x a week, the

> sinus finally drained. Both the practitioner and the patient felt when it

> happened.

>

> So I am encouraged, and now seeking the right practitioner who takes

> insurance. With a special PT/CS prescription is can get paid... but just

> cause they are a PT does not mean they know alot about CS.

> Amy

>

>

[Guest guest]

Bob

Well explained.

tony

> > I would not pick aMD for cranial sacral , as they do not have

this

> > specialty. The reason there are specialty practitioners out there

is because

> > a MD does not do PT, cranial sacral etc .

> >

> > even if a MD took a little training in CS I would not go.

> >

> > I spoke to a CS guy last night, who is also accupuncturist and

yoga. He does

> > not take my insurance but advised me. He suggests someone wiht

alot of

> > experience, not someone whos just taken one or two trainings.

> >

> > He has done CS for 10 years. He warned me there are poepl out

there that do

> > a lot of proessure trying to force your bones into place. He does

not. He

> > does something that sounded quite passeive and receptive to the

needs of the

> > individual.

> >

> > whe he was at a training, the class was supposed to rotate around

practice

> > partners. after tryinig afew newer people he did not trade around

any more

> > and stuck wiht an equally experienced classmate.

> >

> > When asked about whetehr it coudl fix sinus problems, he told of

his

> > experience wiht a patient who was destined for surgery

(drilling????aauugh)

> > as the DR said it was really bad case in sinus problem and CS was

the last

> > thing they could try before surgery. After 3 weeks of CS, 2x a

week, the

> > sinus finally drained. Both the practitioner and the patient felt

when it

> > happened.

> >

> > So I am encouraged, and now seeking the right practitioner who

takes

> > insurance. With a special PT/CS prescription is can get paid...

but just

> > cause they are a PT does not mean they know alot about CS.

> > Amy

> >

> >

>