603 LIVING / HEALTH up for treatments — especially those that are outside the realm of proven medicine. Take craniosacral therapy (CST), for example. CST is a noninvasive therapy rooted primarily in the notion that the gentle laying on of hands on the head, neck and lower back area can reduce compression or tension in the body and help remedy fluid imbalances within the central nervous system, which in turn can alleviate symptoms associated with a number of conditions
“If a patient believes that [CST] is what they need,” Sackos says, it can act as a placebo and effect change. Also, CST can help soothe patients, which brings its own benefits.
Craniosacral Therapy Is the practice hokum or helpful? BY KAREN A. JAMROG / ILLUSTRATION BY MADELINE McMAHON
S
mart consumers know that caveat emptor is the golden rule to observe before opening one’s wallet. The same standard should apply when it comes to signing up for what are known as “alternative” or “complementary” health and wellness therapies. Some are excellent choices; others, a waste of money.
86
nhmagazine.com | September 2021
Make no mistake: Alternative approaches to health should by no means be painted with a broad brush or as a group be derisively dismissed as snake oil; just because a therapy originated outside of traditional Western medicine doesn’t mean that it’s ineffective or harmful. However, it makes sense to do your homework before signing
including chronic pain, migraines, TMJ disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. In theory, CST helps relax the fascia, or connective tissue, that exists throughout the body and surrounds organs, bones, muscles, nerves and more. Critics say it’s a lot of bunk. Still, it appears to help some people, says Dana Sackos, P.T., a physical therapist at Concord Hospital. Although there isn’t much scientific evidence to support how CST works, Sackos says, there is anecdotal evidence — some patients swear by it — and he does see mobility and functional gains in some patients who receive CST. Sackos says he uses metrics such as range of motion, patients’ subjective reports of symptoms, and other functional outcome scores to determine the effectiveness of treatment, but he does not typically treat any patient with only CST, so it’s difficult to say whether CST truly is effective. He doesn’t discount the power of psychology, however. “If a patient believes that [CST] is what they need,” he says, it can act as a placebo and effect change. Also, CST can help soothe
