by Evolve Manual Therapy
A healing pathway in babies and children: CranioSacral Therapy
At Evolve Manual Therapy, our light touch, hands on therapy helps your body to heal itself by removing restrictions. We understand and are experienced in treating the common, and less frequent problems which your children might experience.
Anyone who has experienced parenthood or who has cared for a baby or child will understand the endless list of issues which can and often do occur. From day dot, when your new-born comes home, it’s the challenges of reflux, breastfeeding and sleep issues as well as tongue-tie which may move to a completely different set of challenges in toddlerhood like behavioural, sensory or delayed development issues.
Even the calmest, most natural of births can irritate your baby’s nervous system. The baby leaves their soft, warm and secure environment in utero to be born into the world – placing pressure on their nervous system, which can be further complicated by births which require intervention like forceps or ventouse delivery. The baby’s CranioSacral system made up of brain and spinal cord fluid, has its own rhythm which differs to their heart rate and breathing rate.
CranioSacral Therapists (CST Therapists) at Evolve gently place their hands on your child’s body to feel for this rhythm, to detect the tensions and find the root cause of your child’s issue. We all know how challenging it can be to work out why a baby is crying – CST is a safe and effective way to help navigate this communication between you and your baby, especially when there is a tension pattern which is causing a domino effect on other bodily systems like their immune, respiratory or musculoskeletal systems. If your child is displaying symptoms, this is indicative of their body compensating for the tension patterns, sometimes in a seemingly unconnected way to the true cause. The longer these tension patterns are left to develop, the more challenging it can be to identify the root cause, with many of our patients coming to Evolve having exhausted all other medical avenues.
CST can be a brilliant treatment modality for so many differing ailments and symptoms. Working on a ‘treat whole of body’ principle, the benefits of CST are well researched and supported. We’ve found a few common ailments from our consultations with the youngest members of our community. How many do you identify your child with?
Reflux/Colic– The human body has a nerve which travels to all our organs called the vagus nerve. It originates from just behind the ear and when we get tight in this area, the vagus nerve can become compressed and create issues with other bodily organs causing symptoms like colic or reflux. The trauma of birth for a baby, entering through a tight birth canal or via caesarean section, can irritate the vagus explaining why so many babies suffer from this painful ailment.
Feeding issues – Tension patterns in a baby’s head can change basic reflexes such as their sense of smell or their rooting reflex and contribute to feeding issues. Tension in the membranes can change the shape of a baby’s palate which affects their ability to suck.
Head shape Issues– Misshapen heads or ‘flat spots’ are fairly common in new-borns. With a variety of reasons for their existence, CST can help relieve torticollis (tightening in one side of the neck) or relieve tensions in the pelvis or rib cage from assisted delivery. Ridding a baby of these tensions stops the baby from always favouring one side to sleep on and helps resolve head shape issues. Evolve’s loyal client Kerstin says “My son Jamie had a traumatic birth and to top it off, he was left with a lump the size of a small egg on his head. After treatments, the lump was almost completely gone and four years on, his head is a perfect shape.”
Sleep– One of the most widely talked about baby issues. Quite rightly too! A healthy baby will generally mean that the parents enjoy better quality sleep and aren’t simply ‘surviving’ on minimal rest. CST can help the babies find equilibrium with their sleep cycles by calming the nervous system. At Evolve, we love helping parents to resolve this common issue, leaving them to enjoy their baby so much more.
Behaviour – The cranial bones in our heads can become restricted or tight. This may feel like a tight headband around our skull, but often younger children or babies simply can’t express this, instead become restless or irritable.
General Development/Gross Motor Skills – Many of our clients are surprised to learn that our nervous systems are integral to our ability to develop new skills. A tight nervous system can mean that all the child’s energy goes into maintaining the restrictions and pattern rather than on developing new pathways to learn new skills. Not meeting milestones in new skills such as learning to sit, crawl or walk is worthy of consultation – CST can assist in these developmental processes.
We love CST for its non-invasive and really gentle treatment system. Absolutely safe for even the youngest member of your family, the beauty of it is the ability to move away from looking at the site of the symptoms to treating the whole system.
Children and babies are one of life’s great joys and at Evolve, we love working with you to ensure your child has the best start in life, and the happiest, healthiest journey. Our expert therapists look forward to welcoming you into our calm clinic. Call +61 406 249 221 today or book an appointment online.
by Evolve Manual Therapy
Childhood is a magical time for many children, filled with ‘firsts’ and new experiences. However, sometimes our modern world with its sensory laden environments can cause the child to feel overwhelmed and stressed. It all happens when our nervous system is struggling to regulate itself and loops around in ‘fight or flight’ mode to cope.
Symptoms of sensory overwhelm
Each child who experiences sensory challenges can display slightly differing symptoms. Many parents can relate to ‘something not being quite right’ in terms of the frequent emotional meltdowns, challenges with particular food textures, concentration issues at school or their child’s need to constantly move or fidget.
How treatment helped James
Our loyal client Samantha first brought her son James in to see us several years ago. James struggled to sleep, had a speech delay, suffered food disorders where he had an extremely limited list of foods considered ‘safe’ and in Samantha’s words ‘was afraid of life’. A host of traditional medical specialists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists were trying valiantly to support Samantha, but James unfortunately still failed to thrive, and his parents were exhausted and desperate for someone to help their son. After initially seeing James weekly at Evolve for CranioSacral Therapy (CST), Samantha was surprised and delighted after 4 weeks when James slept through the night. Significant positive changes followed with his eating habits and with continued treatment at Evolve, James started to turn a corner where he became less afraid of life, much more social and more relaxed to stimuli. Our team at Evolve had the biggest smiles on our faces when Samantha burst into our clinic a few months into treatment to let us know that in James’ medical appointment, the specialist had been amazed at the positive changes and exclaimed – ‘What have you done?!?”
CranioSacral Therapy (CST) is the treatment which gave James back his quality of life. It’s a gentle and safe treatment designed to work directly with the nervous system, through use of manual techniques to support the nervous system to regulate itself more effectively. At Evolve, we work with many children who present to us with complex issues, often seemingly unconnected. It’s our job to connect the dots and enable your child to thrive both at home and at school and you to relax without the frustration of ‘putting up’ with behaviour or medical challenges which could potentially be helped.
If this blog rings any bells, we’d love to help! Sensory Overwhelm is a very real issue which requires early intervention, but with treatment can result in extremely positive results, just like our little trooper James. Our expert team will guide you from your first call and celebrate each little win with you. Call Evolve on 0406 249 221 to chat with one of our team.
by Evolve Manual Therapy
In our fast-paced digital world, many of us forget to regularly check in with ourselves.
We see many clients who arrive in our clinic with a host of symptoms and no idea as to the root cause, let alone how to fix them.
CranioSacral Therapy (CST) is a growing practice around the world with over 125,000 practitioners in 106 countries now helping patients improve their structural alignment, function and reduce pain. Started by Dr Upledger, an Osteopath in the 1970’s, we’ve since seen a growing movement of people who are less inclined to embrace prescription medications and are looking for alternative solutions to treat their health issues.
CST is based on the principle that all systems are connected to one another. This includes the cranial bones, vertebrae and sacrum which move in an aligned way with the muscles and ligaments surrounding them helping to circulate the cerebrospinal fluid and keep your spine and systems healthy. Issues occur when this alignment isn’t synchronised, which is often the point at which patients connect with us at Evolve.
A welcoming place of nurturing tranquillity – that’s how one of our clients described our practice.
Gentle and non-invasive
We love CST for its gentle, non-invasive and hands on treatment system. We’re shifting away from treatment models where the site of the symptoms is the sole focus for treatment and instead, therapists look at how your whole system is functioning. Far less daunting than some of the more exacting treatments you may have tried, CST works on the principle that the body can self-correct and heal with the right intervention.
During treatment, therapists place their hands on your body and through skilled assessment and techniques, gently listen to your body’s natural rhythm and find any restrictions which are the root cause of your health issues.
CST is used to safely treat a whole host of health issues, both physical and mental in both adults and children including:
- Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia
- Stress and tension related disorders
- Localised pain i.e. back pain, jaw pain
- Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia
- Immune Disorders
- Scoliosis
- Migraines and headaches
- TMJ syndrome
- Tongue Tie
One of our experienced therapists recently treated Caroline, who arrived at Evolve trapped in a circle of poor health.
Initially her migraines were the main concern, but it quickly became apparent that her symptoms were far more complex, with irritable bowel symptoms, painful periods, insomnia, high anxiety and low energy levels. To make matters worse, Caroline was picking up every cold and virus around and had already seen a wide array of medical professionals – her GP, a gastroenterologist, Hormone Specialist and a Psychologist to try and resolve her symptoms. All the running around to appointments was making Caroline more stressed and her nervous system wasn’t coping very well. All of her symptoms could be related to a part of her nervous system related to the ‘fight or flight’ response being overactive. After her first treatment at Evolve, Caroline enjoyed a really great sleep, after three treatments, her migraines significantly reduced and with continued sessions over the next few months, her menstrual cycle became more regular and less painful and she began to regain her energy. The whole team at Evolve were delighted when Caroline came into our clinic, burst into tears and thanked us for helping her get her life back!
At Evolve, we love a challenge. There are few problems we won’t try to solve and love working with clients on their journey to a healthier body and mind. Our expert therapists can diagnose and treat you in our welcoming, calm and clean clinic.
Call +61 (0) 406 249 221 today or book an appointment online.
