Open Source Cranio

Tag: Doctor

  • Cranio Sacral Therapist and Student Newsletter 23

    May 06 – 2007

    Questions and comments for this issue:

    + How to convince Doctors of the validity of cranio sacral therapy?
    + Migraine question.
    + Do you have to get ‘hands on’ when treating post vasectomy pain?

    Hello,
    I’m just back from a trip to Brisbane where I
    was delivering my ‘Core Success’ seminar.
    How did it go?
    Very well, thank you for asking.

    It was great meeting old friends and some new
    ones too.  Some of the very first students I taught
    in Australia were there, though they are seasoned
    therapists now, and some therapists I hadn’t met
    before, some of whom flew up from Sydney especially
    for the event.

    Jenny Palmer, who organised the seminar, is
    going to write something about it so I will pass it
    on when she does.

    craniosacral therapy in national geographicLastly I want to point you to this wonderful picture I came across in the National Geographic. The man lying in the hospital bed is only days after open-heart surgery. He is having cranio sacral therapy.  I like the picture because it is confirmation of where cranio sacral therapy is heading.  But I’m getting ahead of myself,  as you will see when we get into the first letter in the mailbag.

    ***QUESTION***

    Dear John,
    I recently had a patient who told their Doctor they
    were having craniosacral therapy.  The Doctor
    dismissed it out of hand saying there was no
    scientific basis for it and discouraged her from
    ‘wasting her money’.
    My patient told me she wasn’t keen to continue
    treatment.
    I intend to visit the Doctor in question and see if
    I can’t change his mind.
    I know Dr John Upledger has done some scientific
    studies on CST, I am just wondering if you know of
    any other studies or can suggest some good
    arguments for the validity of CST.
    Thank you for your newsletters.

    C.S.
    Sydney.

    MY COMMENTS:

    I was only talking about this at the seminar in
    Brisbane the other day.  The simplest way to
    explain it is to ask you to look towards the
    future.  About one or two hundred years in the
    future.

    Medicine will look very different.  The
    exclusively mechanical model that is currently in
    vouge will have expanded to include an appreciation
    for the body’s ability to fix itself.  Cranio
    sacral therapy, or whatever it is called then, will
    feature largely.

    Every ambulance and para-medical team will
    include a cranio sacral therapist.  Emergency rooms
    will include cranio sacral therapists as standard
    members of staff.  Maternity wards, and in
    particular, delivery rooms will all have cranio
    sacral therapists.  Every child born will receive
    cranio sacral treatment within the first hours of
    life.
    Rehabilitation facilities will be dealt with
    predominantly by cranio sacral therapists.  The
    treatment of chronic pain and illness will rely
    heavily on cranio sacral therapy to provide lasting
    solutions.
    Inmate rehabilitation programs in prisons will
    include cranio sacral therapy.  Children with
    learning difficulties will receive cranio sacral
    treatment as part of their special care.  The main
    treatment for autism will be cranio sacral therapy.

    On a hill there will be a golden castle where I
    will ride out on my favourite unicorn, Tabatha.
    No, hang on.
    That last bit was a dream.

    Now let’s come back to the present.  At the
    moment, we are ahead of our time.  We are the front
    runners, the pioneers.

    The thing about being a pioneer is that it is
    difficult.  Just ask anyone from the turn of the
    century who was saying that one day humans would
    walk on the moon. Or someone from the middle ages
    who was saying that one day people would travel by
    air.
    Think about all the things that we take for
    granted now, like radio and TV and the internet.
    At one time they all seemed far fetched ideas.  Now
    they are commonplace.

    The flaws in the current medical model are
    becoming more and more apparent to the general
    public.  When you think about the future it doesn’t
    make sense to seek the approval or ally yourself
    with a model that is failing. This is one of the
    reasons that I have never tried to convince a
    Doctor of the validity of Cranio Sacral Therapy.

    Another reason is that the methods of evaluation
    and the science are not sophisticated enough yet to
    measure what we do.  When they are sophisticated
    enough than there will be more of a bridge for us
    to talk.

    Another reason is that we have not got our act
    together enough as cranio sacral therapists.  There
    is way too much infighting and ‘my-way-is the-
    right-way’ sort of thing going on.  Too many 4-day
    courses after which you can call yourself a cranio
    sacral therapist.  Too much cranio sacral therapy
    as an adjunct to other approaches.  We can’t even
    stick to one name for crying out loud.
    By the way I am renaming what I do, cranio-
    vision-quest-bio-morphic-angelic-sacral-therapy-
    approach.

    Catchy, no?

    Moving on.

    It is like the underlying fear and insecurity
    that often drives therapists to associations.  The
    thinking being that if we all band together we will
    be taken more seriously.

    Which leads me to ask, by whom?
    Doctors?  I don’t think so.
    The public?  I doubt it.
    In my experience the public will go with a
    referral from someone they trust over any number of
    qualifications and association memberships.

    So I would discourage you from confronting the
    Doctor.  Instead I encourage you to trust in the
    part of your patient that brought her to see you.
    It will do the right thing for her.

    Also trust in the Doctor to acknowledge your
    successes.

    Your work hinges on your trust in the human
    body’s ability to correct itself.  I am encouraging
    you to trust in the body of humanity to correct
    itself too.  It really is no different.

    ***QUESTION***

    Hi John,

    As always, these newsletters give me great insight,
    so thank you for supplying us with it!

    I just thought I’d give you some feedback about the
    chronic fatigue client I posed a question about in
    an earlier newsletter.

    I treated the person before the newsletter reached
    me, so didn’t have the added help from your
    insights. I had been treating this woman for other
    things for a while, when the time came to deal with
    the chronic fatigue directly. In the space of only
    3 weeks the whole issue seems to have been
    resolved.

    It started off with really good communication with
    the hypothalamus, pituitary and membranes where
    they were able to correct themselves and stay good.
    Next week several past life traumas and associated
    local restrictions needed to be released after
    which chakras 1 and 2 were able to start releasing
    their restrictions. The biggest problem was in the
    2nd chakra where lots of damage had been done when
    the client as a newborn was given drugs to
    counteract kidney failure.

    Those drugs caused damage to the nervous system,
    which lasted for quite a few years. The result was
    a very big block in the energy flow in the area.
    I’m sure there were other contributing causes for
    the chronic fatigue starting up 7 years ago, but it
    wasn’t necessary to go into them. After one and a
    half sessions over 3 days with work only with the
    2nd chakra there was a definite endpoint, where her
    whole body came to peace and I got a very strong
    communication that that was the end of it.

    She didn’t jump up and down like a two-year-old
    right away, but has continued to get stronger and
    more energetic every week since. She hasn’t had any
    relapses since those treatments in November.

    Question.
    A friend of mine suffers really bad migraine and
    I’m about to start looking for the reason. I don’t
    know if it is always the same thing that is wrong
    or if the causes are many and varied. I happened to
    be there when my friend got really bad with the
    migraine, so I tried to help. Someone else who was
    there said migraine comes from the stomach
    meridians being blocked and building up too much
    pressure, giving pain behind the eyes (linking in
    with the light fenomena sufferers experience) and
    vomiting.
    But when I sat with my sick friend and started to
    tune in I got the feeling that that is only the
    symptom, that the cause lies elsewhere, and her
    pineal gland was very persistently engaging with me
    and giving me the idea that the cause may have to
    do with the pressure of fluid inside the head.

    What is your experience in finding and treating the
    cause of it?

    Eva Kuhl Bornefelt
    Central Coast
    Australia

    MY COMMENTS:

    Thanks for the feedback Eva.  I am glad your
    chronic fatigue patient made such a good recovery.

    The first thing that stood out to me about your
    migraine question is when you said, ‘I’m about to
    start looking for the reason.’  I encourage you to
    change this approach.  I have found it much more
    effective to let the reason find you.

    Instead of actively looking for the reason,
    which is a very active dynamic, I encourage you to
    trust the persons system and be available for the
    reason to reveal itself to you.

    On the nuts and bolts department the pain behind
    the eyes can often indicate tentorial tension.
    This happens because of the recurrent, meningeal
    branch of the mandibular branch of the trigeminal
    nerve.  It can be referred pain from the tentorium.

    If you were being drawn to the pineal gland then
    I would go with that.  Because you also mentioned a
    feeling of pressure I would check the integrity of
    the aqueduct of Sylvius.  If it is restricted it
    can cause back-pressure problems.  You can read
    about a woman I treated with this very problem
    http://www.open-source-cranio.com/cases/intracranialtension.html

    ***QUESTION***

    Hello John,
    A guy is coming to see me next week to see if I can
    help him with his vasectomy pain. Have you had any
    experience with this? And if so do you have to
    treat it ‘hands on’ so to speak.  I’m not
    homophobic or anything but I’m really hoping that
    you don’t have to.

    Thanks.

    B.A.
    Perth.

    MY COMMENTS:

    A hundred cheap jokes swirl around my mind but I
    am a bigger man than that and much as I might like
    to, I will resist.

    Fear not.  You can have excellent success
    without having to get hands on.  A lot of the
    problems with vasectomy pain come from trauma
    inflicted during the surgery where the surgeon tugs
    over zealously on the vas deferens to get it clear
    of the scrotum so they can get on with the
    procedure.

    When you look at the anatomy of the vas deferens
    you will see that it travels from the testes
    superiorly into the lower abdomen where it makes a
    hairpin bend in the inguinal area before
    descending to the prostate.

    I have found that the trauma gets stuck in this
    bend.  Working in the area of this bend is roughly
    where you would have your hands when working on the
    pelvic diaphragm.  You can help whatever
    restriction is present to release with this
    contact.  You can also help any restrictions
    further down or in the testes themselves from this
    contact using your . . . intention.

    So breathe a sigh of relief and be glad you
    learned about intention.

    So that’s it for this issue.

    Cheerio for now.

    Till the next time.

    Your Mate,

    John D.

  • ‘What did you do to me?’

    + How to handle the, “What did you do to me?” question. – September 05

    + Comment from Mij Ferrett, craniosacral therapist
    and editor of ‘The Fulcrum’, journal of The
    Craniosacral Therapy Association of the UK. – September 05

    Dear John,

    I have been practicing for two years and am
    enjoying the work immensely. By an large my
    practice is going well.

    Every now and then a particular kind of patient
    will come back for their second visit and accuse
    me of doing something to them.

    Sometimes it is subtle, sometimes not so subtle.

    They will say things like, ‘My neck was fine
    before I came to see you for back pain.

    Now it is really painful.’

    I find it very hard to know what to say to them.

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

    NC

    Eire(Ireland) but you knew that anyway.

    >>>MY COMMENTS:

    Yeah, I may live in Oz but I still know where
    Ireland is.

    Your question highlights one of the most
    difficult aspects of natural medicine.

    That people have been conditioned to be
    irresponsible about their health.

    ‘Fix me Doc.’

    When someone asks you ‘What have you done to me?’
    they are relating to you like a doctor.
    I don’t know whether you have thought about
    this or not but, like it or not, you are a pioneer.

    You are at the cutting edge of a fringe.

    So one of your tasks must be education.

    If you are able to tell you are dealing with
    ‘that kind of patient’, then you would be wise
    to take some pre-emptive measures to avoid them
    asking you the question in ADVANCE.

    The best way to solve a problem being to
    never have it in the first place.

    Don’t know where I heard that but I love using it.

    When you identify the person as being irresponsible
    at the first session, you need to start explaining
    to them right away how it all works. Focusing
    particularly on how you are supporting their
    body to fix itself.

    That you are not trying to direct how that
    process will go, because you know from experience
    that peoples bodies know best how to fix themselves.

    How sometimes things can get worse before they get
    better.

    Help them to discover how remarkable their body is.

    Worst comes to worst and they come back the following
    week and ask you what you did to them?

    You can reframe it for them by reminding them
    what you actually did. You laid you hands gently on
    different parts of their body for varying amounts
    of time.

    You didn’t click them or manipulate them or adjust
    them. In light of all that isn’t it an indication
    of how powerful this way of working is, that it can
    reach such depths in the persons body with such a
    light touch. And how their body can respond in such
    powerful ways to this kind of support.

    Lastly, if you are getting that kind of feedback
    a lot, you might need to look at yourself. Your
    intention may be too strong. You may be trying
    too hard. You may be too attached to what you
    think is the right outcome.

    Generally speaking any repeating pattern in your
    Patient’s is worth looking at in this way.

    ‘Is this me?’

    ‘Is this my issues/patterns playing out?’

    ***COMMENT FROM MIJ FERRETT***

    Hi John,

    I love your answers and have enjoyed reading them and,
    for the most part, agree with them.  There is one minor
    point though … when you say ‘Lastly, if you are
    getting that kind of feedback  [‘My neck was fine
    before I came to see you for back pain. Now it is
    really painful.’] a lot, you might need to look at
    yourself.  Your intention may be too strong.  You may be
    trying too hard.  You may be too attached to what you
    think is the right outcome.’

    I think what you said is relevant and true but there is
    more to say. If you get this kind of comment often then
    it is almost certain that there is something that needs
    looking at but whether or not you get this kind of
    feedback it is inevitable that from time to time all of
    us will get drawn into being over-focused and doing too
    much and that as a result we will tend to initiate some
    kind of protective reaction from the client in response
    to our inappropriate interaction. There is a natural
    tendency for therapists to deny this so the process of
    denial needs attention paying to it as well. In
    situations like this it’s useful to spend a little time
    reflecting on what has happened and notice any pull
    towards being defensive. One of the most beneficial
    ways of progressing therapeutically with someone is
    admitting when we make a mistake and apologising for
    it.
    Interestingly this principle has paid dividends in, of
    all places, american hospitals*. Any authentic
    acknowledgement and apology will tend to help the
    therapeutic relationship.

    Of course there is the classic healing crisis response
    as well and the classic response of the client not
    taking responsibility for their own process but that
    this can be used as a cover up for therapeutic error.

    More power to your keyboard.

    Mij

    *Due to the litigious nature of the culture and the
    large sums of money awarded by damages suits many
    hospitals and doctors have tended to cover up and deny
    mistakes.  However a pilot scheme in Lexington VA
    Kentucky introduced after some multimillion dollar
    lawsuits, encourages doctors to acknowledge their
    mistakes and apologise for them. When patients have
    doctors apologise to them and offer fair compensation
    feelings are much improved and court awards are much
    lower; there has also been a reduction in unjustified
    malpractice suits. Subsequently many other US hospitals
    have introduced the policy with similar results and
    medical students are now being encouraged by Harvard
    Medical School to do the same when qualified.

    >>>MY COMMENTS:

    I agree with everything up to the part about
    apologising to the patient when we make a mistake.
    For some reason this set my alarm bells off.

    ‘Apologise to a patient? Really?’

    It troubled me.

    I wrestled with it.

    I pondered, even.

    And then it hit me . . . a few times.

    Not all apologies are therapeutically beneficial for
    both parties.

    When I get on an aeroplane I’m not really thinking
    about the pilot. I’m thinking of where I want to go.
    My destination.

    If I did think about the pilot I would have to
    acknowledge that he will probably make AT LEAST one
    mistake on the flight.  I know it but I don’t really
    want to think about it.

    If we are flying along at 60,000 feet and the plane
    lurches suddenly but then rights itself, I want to
    think that we probably hit an unexpected pocket of
    turbulence.  The ‘fasten you seatbelts’ sign didn’t
    come on so everything is probably ok.

    The last thing I want to hear is the pilot coming
    over the intercom saying,

    ‘Hi Everyone, this is the captain speaking.
    Look, the head cabin attendant Nancy, was just
    giving me my dinner and when I reached for the tray
    I accidentally hit the throttle with my knee.
    That’s why the plane lurched a minute ago.  So I
    just wanted to let you know and I wanted to
    apologise to you all.’

    The captain would probably turn off the intercom,
    look at his co-pilot and say, ‘Man, that felt good.
    Therapeutic almost.’

    Back in my seat, I would probably have a glazed sort
    of look in my eye.  My knuckles would definitely be
    whiter and while rationally I might appreciate the
    pilot’s honesty, most of me would be wanting to get off
    at the next stop. Which stop? Who cares?

    JUST GET ME OFF THIS PLANE!!!

    I would still want to reach my destination, just not
    with that pilot.  He is probably perfectly competent to
    get me there but he just made the process of getting
    there too scary for me.

    Also . .

    The sort of ‘mistakes’ we make are a lot more
    complicated and difficult to explain than Doctor’s
    mistakes.

    ‘I’m sorry I left my wristwatch inside you, when I
    sewed you up Mr Smith.’ would be understood by most
    patients.  They wouldn’t be too pleased about it, maybe
    they wouldn’t sue the doctor for so much but they would
    understand the error.

    Whereas if we say something like. . .
    ‘I’m sorry you had that reaction last week. It was
    my fault because I wanted you to get better too much.’

    Most patients could understandably reply, ‘That’s
    what I’m paying you for.  You’re supposed to want me to
    get better, ya big freak!’

    Equally . .

    There is the possibility that we could end up
    apologising for responses that are not actually
    mistakes but are part of the therapeutic process.

    Saying. . ‘I want to apologise for your neck hurting
    this week. It was because my intention was too much
    last week.’

    Is apologising for what is actually part of the
    process of finding the best level to work at for that
    person’s system.  There is no way of knowing it in
    advance.  You can only find the right level to work at
    by going as lightly as possible, while remaining
    physically in the room, the first time you treat the
    person and then going deeper with each subsequent
    treatment.

    Assuredly . .

    I’m all for apologising to patients if you’re
    running late or you haven’t got the right change or you
    fall asleep on their stomach!
    No kidding, it hasn’t happened to me personally but did
    happen REPEATEDLY to one of my students.

    Eeeeewwwwww!

    Finally . .

    Be ruthlessly honest with yourself and appropriately
    honest with your patients.