Craniosacral therapy (CST)-

This alternative body-mind therapy originated with cranial osteopathy, developed by an osteopath William Sutherland, who noted the cranial sutures looked like gills of a fish and proposed they move with respiration.  John Upledger conducted the purported pulse of the cranial bone movement and developed the concept of a cranial rhythm.  Their research findings were later concluded to not meet scientific standards of proof of effectiveness of the CST and cranial bone movement.  Current practitioners believe small rhythmic motions of the cranial bones occur due to the cerebral spinal fluid or arterial pulsations and they can detect these movements by palpating the cranium and the sacrum, focusing intently on the patient’s body, becoming “in tune” with the patient’s body, calling this process “Entrainment”.  Patients do report relaxation during the process.  The sacrum, that has been shown scientifically to have such small movements that are not reliably determinable, is palpated in a similar fashion to attempt to detect small movements.  CST is effective for relaxation, but has not been demonstrated to be of any other value in scientific studies.  The studies that were conducted was so poorly designed that they could not be used to draw any conclusions.  The science behind CST is extremely questionable with very little evidence suggesting cranial sutures move at all and the sacroiliac joint motions so subtle that different practitioners do not agree on such movement.   Painbytes assessment:  one thumb down due to erroneous dianostics leading to misdiagnosis or delay in diagnosis.  It is useful for relaxation but nothing else.  The science is bad and buying into this therapy is a belief system rather than proven medical science.  The placebo effect is probably strong, both for patient and practitioner.