“Do you know anything about this?” FREE CranioSacral Evaluations for your child”
A woman wrote me saying that she heard CranioScral Therapy (CST) could be helpful for ADD and ADHD. She asked, “Do you know anything about this?”
I have been working with children with ADHD & ADD for over 10 years now and in my experience, we see improvements about 90 % of the time. Most children improve noticeably with CST intervention, some dramatically and some a little.
We have found that hyperactivity and learning delays are often linked to compression of pivotal bones in the CranioSacral System. These bones include the occiput, which is the floor of the brain, and its connection to the first cervical vertebrae, or where the spine meets the head. This inhibits free flow of fluids from the head and brain to the body and corresponding communication pathways via the nerves.
Also, at the other end of the system, we often find the sacrum compressed to the lower lumbar spine. The system is thus compressed at both ends, leaving the child struggling.
Within the brain itself, children with learning and behavior difficulties frequently have pressures or what we call strain patterns that are quite severe. By strain patterns I mean the alignment of the cranial bones is off significantly and this reflects unbalanced forces within the brain itself and surrounding membranes. If these strain patterns existed in adults, we would be voicing our discomfort, a feeling of pressure, or even headaches.
In one child I evaluated and found these severe strain patterns, I asked his mother if he had headaches. She said no. I then released the strain pattern and the 3 year old boy said to me, “Now the man in my head has stopped banging.”
It’s not that his head didn’t hurt, its just that he didn’t know how to express it. He didn’t know the discomfort wasn’t normal. I believe a lot of these kids are feeling discomfort, if not downright pain, and they just don’t know how to tell you about it.
It takes a lot more energy to do normal activities when these pressures are present, as you know if you’ve ever tried to perform normally when you weren’t feeling good. For the kids, the result can be a difficulty concentrating, behaving normally or even learning to talk or read.
It is worth it for any parent to take their child for a CranioSacral evaluation from a qualified therapist. You can find a qualified therapist by going to the website www.upledger.com and looking up practitioners in your area. A more advanced practitioner is usually one that has taken more courses or even teaches and that will be shown on the website. For your child, you want to get someone with pediatric training. Sometimes people with just a few classes can also be quite good.
There is a great deal more information on this subject on our website www.wellontheway.com, including dolphin therapy with children. Here at Well On The Way®, children’s evaluations are free. Just give us a call or email and we’ll set up a 1/2 hour appointment for your child.
