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Cranio Sacral therapy as treatment for hydrocephalus
I have a client that I have been seeing twice a week for about a month for chronic low back pain. She has diagnosed hydrocephalus (among a myriad of other conditions) and is waiting to have surgery within the next couple months. She is experiencing chronic headaches as well as equilibrium issues. I had a sneaking suspicion that the low back pain could be connected to the excess of CSF as well and after prompting her to ask her doctor these suspicions were confirmed.
I am familiar with Cranio Sacral therapy in that I think we had a day or two section on it in Massage school. I would think that this modality may help to give her some relief from the LBP and headaches until (and after) her surgery but Im not super versed in it. I have spoken to her about the modality and my limited experience in it and she is very open and excited for me to try it with her.
I am doing brush up research on my own but does anyone have any helpful tips or information for me? Any similar case studies that could shed some light for me? Thank you in advance!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Therese Schwartz on
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Hi Jessica, I just got back 2 days ago from taking CST for Pediatrics. We talked about hydrocephalus. Once she's had the surgery and the shunt is in place you can do CST on her. Between now and then it's really, really important that you don't do anything that might increase the amount of CSF in her head. So I'd hold off on doing any CST until after the surgery. At that point you can do some really good things to help her.
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Permalink Reply by Jessica Montague on
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Thank you for your reply Therese. That is very good to know. I tried doing research specifically about the effects of CST on hydrocephalus patients and so far couldn't find anything so Im glad you were able to give me that insight. Do you have any links or anything where I can find further info?
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Hi Jessica, I'm too tired to think any more tonight (the trip and the class have caught up with me!). Tomorrow I'll see what info I have in my notebook that I can share with you, and see what else I can find. I'm glad to help!
How old is your client?
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It occurred to me that my scanner isn't operational so I can't scan and attach any info. However, I did a Google search of "CranioSacral Therapy and Hydrocephalus" and got a large number of links to articles that should be of some benefit to you. I don't have time to read them in depth but it's a good place for you to start.
I also wanted to comment that your intuition was really good about the LB pain! Many times we dismiss our intuition and we shouldn't.
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My client is about 65.
Interesting I googled hydrocephalus & Cranio Sacral Therapy (and about a dozen variations thereof) and couldn't find much useful. Mostly either/or or pertaining to infants. Ill keep looking.
I try as much as possible not to dimiss intuition and it has yet to fail me :-) Thank you again Therese!
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Sad that she's gone undiagnosed for so long! Heaven knows what she's been dealing with as a result.
Yes, I agree that it's mostly about infants. And working on adults is definitely different. I could ask my mentors about it but I know what they'll say: "Get your hands on and treat what you find". Used to drive me nuts because I wanted techniques and specifics and just tell me what to do! But now, after 5 years of experience and a lot of classes, I get it! Each person is so different that there are no stock answers.
I've had to learn the hard way to listen to my intuition; I've had some terrible horse-related accidents because I didn't listen to myself! When I listen, mine doesn't fail me either. Ironically, it's one of my strongest attributes. Some of us are just slower I guess! :)
Good luck and I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have.
You're welcome!
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