Research, Articles & Case Studies

“Every treatment protocol should be dictated by the wisdom of the patient’s own body.”

—Dr. John E. Upledger

This quote by Dr. Upledger is at the heart of Upledger CranioSacral Therapy and is the foundation for its Paradigm.

The Upledger Paradigm describes the core principles of Upledger CranioSacral Therapy (CST). It is a combination of Dr. John E. Upledger’s in-class teachings, his written material, and the interpretation of his work by Upledger Institute International Instructors. The Paradigm is designed to evolve over time as CST continues to progress. It is composed of, but not limited to, the following aspects.

Did You Know that Concussion Increases the Risk of:

1. Homelessness?

2. Substance Abuse?

3. Mental Health Problems?

4. Suicide?

5. Dementia?

6. ADHD?

7. Learning Difficulties?

8. Aggression?

9. Incarceration?

  Postural Orthostatic Tachcardia Syndrome(POTS) is a rare disorder of the autonomic nervous system. The number of people who have gotten this disorder has incresed since the outbreak of Covid 19, it seems to go largely undiagnosed.

 CranioSacral Therapy has seemed to help with the symptoms of this rare disorder.

 We eat when we are stress, to change the neurotransmitters in our brain, to shake up the hormonal balance and it works! There is real emotional effect which occurs when we eat. Sugar is one of the easiest way to sooth the unwanted anxious feelings, without us even knowing.

 We don't experience our emotions in isolation. All of our emotions go somewhere. Our body goes through all the emotional trauma that we undergo as well, this trauma finds it's way into the organs in our bodies which we hold onto until we can release it all.

Visceral Manipulation works on the premises that free movement within the body.

Rhythms are the fundamental part of life and health, and their coordinated expression is the fundamental basis for homeostasis and health. The powerful biological, regulatory processes at work that we can detect with our hands as palpable oscillations and rhythms are a rich source of palpatory information in facilitating a CST treatment.

The primary source of these rhythms seems to be located in the hypothalamus, brain stem, and spinal cord, all at the core of the craniosacral system and concerning the deeper health within our bodies.

The complexity of the array of rhythms in the human body makes it difficult for even the most advanced modeling systems to fully describe the most well-studied rhythms, such as the heart rate, respiratory breathing, and circadian rhythm. At the same time, no rhythm can be fully described in isolation.

A helpful model for describing complex systems was pioneered by the Nobel prize awarded Herbert Simon, formulating the theory of The Architecture of Complexity in 1962. The theory states that “complex networks must take the form of hierarchy with unifying properties independent of their specific content.” Applying the theory to the complex rhythms of life, we can identify master rhythms by unifying different rhythms by entrainment, keeping other rhythms in a frame, or phase-lock a rhythm to a constant value or ratio.

How do cells and biological systems perceive time? To perceive time, a clock is needed; clocks are rhythms like the rhythms of the sun and moon from where we have created our chronological time. All clocks, from the lifespan of a human to the process inside a cell, have an internal clockwork that, throughout life, responds, regulates, and communicates our life process.

A rhythm is a wave moving in time, and a wave is an oscillation, so the creator of a rhythm is an oscillator. As described above, autonomous rhythms such as the heart rate and respiratory breathing use oscillation at the single cell level that are united to form groups of cells that can oscillate a rhythm, often in a central organizing place of the body as the heart and the brainstem.

Science is again and again amazed with Mother Nature, who keeps surprising us with a complexity and brilliance that we learn from. Systems of rhythms regulating our health at a profound level, the many ways Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) is moved in the Central Nervous System (CNS) to allow nourishment, cleaning, and communication, has shown that the simple bulk flow of CSF and regulating system in the Pressurestat Model, is today replaced by a growing understanding of rhythms and CSF circulation and function.

The knowledge of Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) and its movements is changing rapidly in these years. The different mechanisms behind many unique patterns of CSF movements are continuously discovered. Modern research on human health and, thereby, the CNS and the related systems to CSF, is taking place at a speed that was difficult to imagine even ten years ago.

Recently a fourth meningeal layer/membrane was reported. Another possible aspect of control and flow of CSF around the brain is being discovered. The described fourth membrane SLYM (figure 9) adds to a long list of the complex role played by CSF.

One of the main questions in CST relates to the controversy of cranial bone motion in relation to suture closure or not in humans. More recently many studies done in forensic medicine with very high-resolution modern scanners, and the use of cellular and molecular biology have created major advances in the understanding of sutures.

Cranial sutures have a wide range of functions, originating from embryological different tissues with diverse properties. Sutures are of major importance for our cranial growth and brain development, as the major site for interstitial growth of the cranial bones. Sutures allows for skull movement for ease of the passage to the birth canal. Partly fused or fused sutures provide protection for the brain. Sutures are also reported to be essential for shock absorption, and for the redistribution of strain across the skull. The strain in relation to sutures may both be identified in the developmental process and daily life.