My mom wants me to get Craniosacral Therapy.

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She thinks I should get it to end my nervousness. Nervousness and being up tight got me the citizenship award for 7th grade. She also doesn't want me to pace the floor and thinks this will help.

Does your mom also rely on psychics?



Craniosacral therapists claim to be able to detect a craniosacral "rhythm" in the cranium, sacrum, cerebrospinal fluid and the membranes which envelop the craniosacral system. The rhythm is measured by the therapist's hands. Any needed or effected changes in rhythm are also detected only by the therapist's hands. No instrument is used to measure the rhythm or its changes, hence no systematic objective measurement of healthy versus an "unhealthy" rhythms exists. The measurement, the therapy, and the declared cure are all subjectively based.

There is no plausible biological basis for the claims made by therapists for craniosacral rhythms, it is likely that the therapists are deluded, i.e., imagining they are detecting and manipulating a subtle energy.

The skull does not consist of moveable parts (unlike the jaw), and brain cells lack actin and myosin (the things in muscle cells that make them move). The only rhythm detectable in the cranium and cerebrospinal fluid is related to the cardiovascular system, but craniosacral therapists deny craniosacral rhythms are due to blood pressure. When tested, therapists have been unable to consistently come up with the same measurements of the alleged craniosacral rhythm. (Dr. Ben Goldacre says there have been five such published studies and "in none of them did the osteopaths give similar answers.") In a systematic review of the scientific evidence for craniosacral therapy, the British Columbia Office of Health Technology Assessment (BCOHTA) concluded that

In reply to Fnord "does your mom also rely on psychics" No she does not, I think the placebo affect has something to with it. Her sister took her in for it. She thinks it "works" (placebo affect). Medicare might cover it (she is 59 I am 13).

I've never heard of it before, but from the description it sounds like you'd get as much or more benefit from having an evangelist lay their hands on your head and "heal" you. Just don't let them talk you into handling any snakes. And don't give them any money.

Just say no. Don't let her take you to something... this questionable.