What is Cranial Release Therapy?
Part of what makes chiropractic care so well rounded as a medical discipline is the wide variety of techniques that can be used to treat conditions that patients face. This diversity is useful in that each patient is dealing with their own individual problems, and the ability to arrive at the correct solution with multiple different techniques is invaluable in some cases.
One of these techniques is called Cranial Release Therapy (CRT). This involves adjusting various different small bones that compose the skull, to promote optimal nervous system functioning and the correct communication between different parts of the body via these impulses. CRT is often used in patients that have experience brain trauma and are dealing with concussion symptoms.
We have been under the impression that there was no possible way to treat a concussion. Mainly, all that could be done was to keep the patient properly hydrated and ensure that they do not fall asleep as this can result in the patient slipping into a coma or for seizures to occur. However with the advent of CRT, chiropractors are finding that while a concussion may not be eliminated but that the symptoms of a concussion and other brain trauma occurrences can be mitigated and relieved.
The chiropractor has the ability to use an inflatable device to reach through the patient’s nasal passages and get closer to the skull itself. When applying certain levels of pressure to the skull in this method, the skull tends to mold itself towards proper structure all on its own. It is important for the chiropractor to be well certified in this process and to approach this type of care with extreme caution as slight modifications to the brain and skull’s positioning can have drastic consequences.
Concussions are not the only conditions that CRT is useful in, as chronic headaches, neck pain, shoulder pain, and even some mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. While it may seem more invasive than other treatment interventions that the chiropractor provides, it can help patients deal with poor musculoskeletal health and make improvements to their condition.
Used under Creative Commons Licensing courtesy of Tim Walker