So here are my thoughts on craniosacral therapy.....

First know that I am a pretty crunchy person - mostly plant based diet,
practice yoga and meditation, had one amazing experience with Reiki (but
all others, meh), have done massage therapy and chiropractic. Have worked
in lactation (lay counselor and IBCLC) for about 40 years, so have seen
many things come and go. I am also a medical technologist and a science
geek, so show me the research or a heck of a lot of verified anecdotal
stuff and make sure it has some basis in biology/physiology. I actually
considered becoming certified in CST when it first became a real thing -
but further research did not support my initial enthusiasm, so I moved on
and concentrated on honing my lactation counselor skills.

My issues with CST is that I cannot see the biological basis for its
supposed effects. There has still been no good research showing that the
circulation of spinal fluid is influenced in any real way by CST
manipulations. I have a feeling that a lot of what is happening is due to
the placebo effect, which can be very strong and if it works, then great -
it is the outcome that really matters. Studies have shown that even when
people know they are taking a placebo, they can still see positive effects
- fascinating. For infants, who do actually still have open sutures, it is
possible that gentle maneuvers may have some effect on something, but
again, what is the physiology and what is the margin of error in an infant
that may have some type of pathology of the CNS that could be affected by
any kind of manipulation? Now most CST is extremely gentle, almost
difficult to detect what is being done, so I think that the possibility of
damage in most cases is pretty slim. But this is the kind of stuff that
makes physicians nervous (never mind the stuff routinely done to newborns
that make many of us cringe.)  I think that a lot of LCs have jumped on the
CST bandwagon without really understanding it or asking for research to
support its use (and expense). Is it just our referral of last resort when
nothing else has worked and we are out of ideas?

I would love to see a study of all parents who have take their infants for
CST and what is the outcome. What was the presenting problem, what other
therapies were tried, what was the measurable outcome of all those
therapies. There should be a control group of babies where there is no CST,
but just the continuation of the usual measures to resolve the problem. I
don't disagree that CST can relax a baby and make him more amenable to
changes in positioning or latch that might help breastfeeding - but so can
infant massage or other modalities. How many treatments are necessary to
see measurable results and is that any different from receiving an equal
number of treatments of other modalities or just good lactation support
from a skilled IBCLC? Are those being pointed towards CST receiving the
best lactation care prior to those referrals? What is the attitude of the
mother - does it make a difference in the outcome if she is very supportive
of CST or if she is skeptical, but desperate?  This kind of research is
difficult to do and fund, like many breastfeeding related issues. You say
that you often refer to CST - have you kept track of the results and if so,
what are they? Do most of your clients benefit and is breastfeeding
preserved as a direct result of the therapy?

Anyways, there are many glowing anecdotal reports out on the internet and I
am sure from LCs on Lactnet. There is very little research. Here are a
couple of links that may shed some light on the issues involved, but they
are not going to help you with this physician. At my age, I am both more
skeptical in general while at the same time mindful of how much we still
don't know about so many things.

https://www.painscience.com/articles/craniosacral-therapy.php

https://www.iahe.com/docs/articles/SystematicReview.pdf

Sharon Knorr, Breastfeeding USA counselor
Colorado, USA



On Mon, Jun 3, 2019 at 9:32 AM Jessica Billowitz <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> As I am sure is the same for many of you, I often refer to cranial sacral
> therapy for babies with suck issues.  I just got off the phone with a
> respected pediatrician, who is pro breastfeeding, but as he is a male and
> breastfeeding is not his main concern, does not really understand how a
> breast could be full of milk and a baby not getting it.  He thinks cranial
> Sacral therapy is totally quackery and could not believe that I actually
> think it helps.  He thinks it is 100% placebo.  Any anecdotal evidence
> means
> nothing to him.  He tells his patients they can go..but a total waste of
> money, time and totally ridiculous.  I was wondering for all you MDs out
> there who understand this..how do you explain what this does, how it helps,
> and are there any studies out there?  Catherine Watson Genna- how do you
> explain what the baby needs to the mother and pediatrician?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jessica Billowitz, IBCLC
>
> Israel
>
>
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