CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY SPORTS MEDICINE

CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY:

ITS ROLE IN SPORT? BY PENNY NISBET, MCSP RCST

INTRODUCTION Flexibility, muscular strength and smooth coordinated movement are recognised important factors in optimum sporting performance. One only has to glance at familiar images of athletes in action to observe movement that is powerful, graceful and apparently effortless. This is undoubtedly achieved by dedicated practice and effort by the individual. However, it is not difficult to notice when reading sporting news reports that some talented athletes who have competed consistently at a very high level are frustratingly injury-prone and are forced to spend months or even years of a potential peak performance period in their lives recovering from injury or repair surgery.

Another picture can be imagined of a group of athletes

possessing similar sporting ability and determination to succeed, and undergoing the same conditioning programme but achieving very dissimilar results, which cannot be attributed to any particular factor. In spite of diligent investment of time and effort by many experts, and not least by the individual, it may have to be accepted that no further improvement is possible. A therapeutic modality that helps the body to find its own resources in order to achieve a better balance and level of health would seem a welcome option. This is the potential in craniosacral therapy, which can be undertaken as a possible means to prevent injury, achieve optimum performance level and recover from the effects of injury.

WHAT IS CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY? Craniosacral therapy is a gentle hands-on therapy that assists the body’s natural ability to repair itself. It is a therapy that is becoming increasingly popular, perhaps due to the effectiveness of its gentle approach. Craniosacral therapy has

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Craniosacral therapy is a therapeutic modality that helps the body use its own resources to achieve a better balance and level of health. It is a possible means to prevent injury, achieve optimum performance level and recover from the effects of injury.

been developed from discoveries made by osteopaths about the body’s subtle physiology in the USA around 100 years ago. These findings show that all cells in the body express a rhythmic movement – usually referred to as “craniosacral motion” – that is fundamental to life. In the core of the body, the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that surrounds the brain and spinal cord and provides protective cushioning and nutrition for the nervous tissue expresses the rhythmical craniosacral motion in an ebb and flow type of movement, which could be compared to a tide or current in the sea. Bones, organs and other structures possess their own characteristic patterns of movement. This movement is very subtle but a trained therapist is able to recognise it. These discoveries were developed and have been refined into a unique style of “listening” to the body via the trained therapist’s hands. This process of listening to the body also facilitates the body’s healing resources.

ASSISTS THE BODY’S NATURAL ABILITY TO REPAIR ITSELF

CRANIOSACRAL THERAPY IS A GENTLE HANDS-ON THERAPY THAT

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