Craniosacral Therapy

[SRW]

Has anyone heard of Cranioscral Therapy? It is being called;
a Miracle Therapy' Relieve Pain, Autism. (http://www.theksbwchannel.com/health/14532167/detail.html)http://www.theksbwchannel.com/health/14532167/detail.html

Is big Pharma...big doctor...bigusdicus keeping me from this or is it just an other scam.

[Psiload]

The latter...

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=39551&highlight=upledger

http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=20660&highlight=upledger

[fls]

I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

Linda

[zenotter]

I've never heard of it relieving autism so in that respect it may be a scam, but the most definitive legit c-s site I know of is www(dot)upledger(dot)com. I'd post the direct link but I'm still a newbie here. *sigh*

I've had it done to me by someone who's taken a lot of classes directly from John Upledger himself. It's a bit woo but it seemed to help me feel better after a car accident I had a few years ago.

Then again, I'm a big fan of the placebo effect, so my experience may not mean anything at all. A half pint of Godiva ice cream would probably have worked much the same. :)

[Boo]

Scalp massage cures Autism. Ummmmm, no.



Boo

[SRW]

I've never heard of it relieving autism so in that respect it may be a scam, but the most definitive legit c-s site I know of is www(dot)upledger(dot)com. I'd post the direct link but I'm still a newbie here. *sigh*

I've had it done to me by someone who's taken a lot of classes directly from John Upledger himself. It's a bit woo but it seemed to help me feel better after a car accident I had a few years ago.

Then again, I'm a big fan of the placebo effect, so my experience may not mean anything at all. A half pint of Godiva ice cream would probably have worked much the same. :)


I'm thinking Scam 100%, I sent the Quackwatch link to the station that ran this, I will not hold my breath waiting for a retraction.

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cranial.htm (http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cranial.html)
http://www.upledger.com/

[SRW]

I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

Linda

Well at least that will leave my wallet intact.

[zenotter]

I'm thinking Scam 100%, I sent the Quackwatch link to the station that ran this, I will not hold my breath waiting for a retraction.

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cranial.htm (http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cranial.html)
http://www.upledger.com/
Great Quackwatch info. Thanks for posting that and the Uppy link.

*wanders off to the store to get some more ice cream*

[Big Les]

There is a House 'o Quack providing this "therapy" less than a mile from my house. I grumble at it every time I drive past.

Still, the people that run it have a nice house in the country and two expensive cars, so it can't be all bad... :mad:

[JoeTheJuggler]

My last sort of girlfriend is a practitioner of C-S therapy--also myofascial release.

The relationship didn't last long.

[Fnord]

Craniosacral Therapy provides relief only for those who suffer from cephalorectitis. A loud 'pop' is usually heard when the cure occurs.

Cranio or Cranium - "Head"
Cephalo or Cephalum - "Head"

Sacral or Sacrum - "Tail"
Rect or Rectum - Lower bowels, including the anus.

-itis - Inflammation.

Thus, Craniosacral is synonymous with Cephalorectal, and a person who sufferes from cephalorectitis is experiencing inflammation of the bowels due to the (sometimes forceful) insertion of their head into their rectal cavity.

Cranioscral Therapy is a method used to relieve this condition.

It's Twoo!

[Dr. Imago]

The majority of my osteopathic colleagues believe it to be bunkum. (How about that... tangential hearsay appeal-to-popularity argument.) :D

-Dr. Imago

[SRW]

From the Wikipedia page


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniosacral_therapy



Skeptics existing both inside and outside the osteopathic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathic_medicine) profession level the following criticisms at craniosacral therapy:

Lack of evidence for the existence of "cranial bone movement" The scientific evidence for cranial bone movement is insufficient to support the theories claimed by craniosacral practitioners. Scientific research supports the theory that the cranial bones fuse during adolescence, making movement impossible. However, this research only points to fusion of the base of the skull which is not contested in craniosacral therapy and does not address movement in the superior plates. As such, this research plays no part in disproving the type of cranial bone movement as postulated by craniosacral therapy.[37] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniosacral_therapy#_note-therapy9)
Lack of evidence for the existence of the "cranial rhythm" While evidence exists for cerebrospinal fluid pulsation, one study states it is caused by the functioning of the cardiovascular system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiovascular_system) and not by the workings of the craniosacral system.[38] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniosacral_therapy#_note-therapy2)
Lack of evidence linking "cranial rhythm" to disease No research to date has supported the link between the "cranial rhythm" and general health.
Lack of evidence "cranial rhythm" is detectable by practitioners Operator interreliability has been very poor in the studies that have been done. Five studies showed an operator interreliability of zero.[39] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniosacral_therapy#_note-25)The one study showing some operator interreliability has been criticized as deeply flawed in a report to the British Columbia Office of Health Technology Assessment.[ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniosacral_therapy#_note-26)
The lack of evidence is overwhelming.

[Hydrogen Cyanide]

The British Columbia Centre for Health Services and Policy Research says it is bogus:
http://www.chspr.ubc.ca/node/391 (it is referenced in the Quackwatch article, but they keep moving the link, this one should let you download the full paper).

Cranialsacral therapy is essentially a homeopathic head massage.

A couple of months ago I did have someone try to tell me it solved neuro problems, I replied (while trying not to choke on my peach) that a head massage is not going to effect damage in Broca's area well over an inch beneath the skull.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Cranialsacral therapy can have a great effect if a five-pound hammer is used. :covereyes

[PixyMisa]

Retrophrenology?

[JoeTheJuggler]

Its real therapeutic value is in decreasing the size of your wallet so when you sit you can do so in a more proper alignment.

[Blue Wode]

Cranial osteopathy: its fate seems clear

Steve E Hartman, Department of Anatomy, College of Osteopathic Medicine, University of New England, Biddeford, ME, 04005, USA
Chiropractic & Osteopathy 2006, 14:10

http://www.chiroandosteo.com/content/14/1/10

Snippet-

After millennia as socially sanctioned, organized magical thinking, medicine has become a powerful service profession. This transition was possible only because scientific inquiry has become integral to almost everything physicians do. Without science, medicine would still involve little more than applying tourniquets, setting bones, and administering placebos. Cranial osteopathy/craniosacral therapy is not a medicine for this century. Perhaps properly controlled outcome studies will show that, though biologically anomalous, these techniques nonetheless produce a direct and positive effect on patient health. Until they do, however, the "cranial" arts should be dropped from all academic curricula; insurance companies should stop paying for them; and patients should invest their time, money, and health in treatments grounded in the extraordinarily successful, science-based biomedical model of the modern era.

[Rolfe]

Cranialsacral therapy is essentially a homeopathic head massage.


That was my line, you plagiarist!

I had it done to me at the suggestion of my masseuse, who shared a flat with this "osteopath" girl. It involved small movements of the fingers, mostly on my forehead, just enough to move the skin slightly with respect to the underlying skull. Accompanied by the most ridiculous misinformation about moving skull bones and "spaces" inside the head (she didn't seem to know where the sinuses were).

I mentioned that at my age the skull sutures would be fused. She said that nevertheless her technique did move them. She told me about her training, apparently at Birkbeck College London, shame on them. She said, at first you just don't believe it's possible, but when you try, you realise they really do move.

False learning, brainwashing, I don't know what you call it. She wasn't a conscious fraud, but she'd been expertly trained to be fraudulent by academic woo-woos.

Rolfe.

[Big Les]

Assuming for one minute that the cranial bones could move, why the blue blazes would you want some numpty shifting them around??? My head's lumpy enough as it is, thanks all the same.

[Physiotherapist]

She told me about her training, apparently at Birkbeck College London, shame on them.



Rolfe,

It is not possible to train in craniosacral therapy at Brikbeck College, London. You must have misheard her.

If she was an osteopath, then it is possible to take postgraduate courses in cranial osteopathy through the osteopathic schools.

The British School of Osteopathy www.bso.ac.uk

The British College of Osteopathic Medicine www.bcom.ac.uk

If she was not an osteopath, then she would have to have trained through many of the colleges of craniosacral therapy that exist or the Upledger Institute, UK.

www.ccst.co.uk
www.upledger.co.uk
www.cranio.co.uk

[Hydrogen Cyanide]

That was my line, you plagiarist!

....

I only steal from the best. :D

I found my first use here, which I think I actually used after you described it as such:
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?p=912251&highlight=homeopathic+head+massage#post912251

I can't find the thread where you posted after me with the same thought. I think that was one started by a banned member and went away during the great database culling.

Though I know I've been battling the folks trying to cure kids with that nonsense since before the millennium (it is where I found Quackwatch, and then www.ratbags.com (http://www.ratbags.com) and all the nonsense about the year 2000 bug).