The Treatment
About Cranial & Physical Therapy
Cranial and Physical Therapy is a manual therapy; it’s safe, it’s natural, and it can help people of all ages.
Our aims when providing treatment are to:
Generally speaking we are asked to help people who are in pain and/or who are stiff and we usually find that their muscles and joints are out of balance, which can also affect nerves and other structures such as lymph and blood vessels. So our primary aim of treatment is to relieve your symptoms by releasing tension throughout your body so that it moves in a more balanced and comfortable way.
Although people will often come in and say “my back hurts”, on further questioning we find out that they have pain or niggles in lots of other places too. This is a key point; the body is a whole unit, ie the bits are all joined up together and affect each other. This is why we might treat your upper back as well as your lower back when you tell us you have low back pain. We consider the whole body when assessing why you are in pain, how it could be relieved and how the symptoms might be prevented from recurring.
Our treatment is also about empowering you to help yourself by teaching you how to use your body more efficiently, how to stretch or strengthen muscles, what general exercise would suit you, how to sit correctly and so on. We hope to give you ways to stay mobile and comfortable, and to generally feel more well.
When the presenting problem has settled down, you may find that follow-up treatments help you to maintain the improvements and feeling of well-being.
What to expect at your appointment
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On your first visit we will ask you detailed questions about your symptoms, your general health and medical history, including things like all your medication, operations, accidents, illnesses, lifestyle and so on. At the moment we will aim to take most of these details during a phone call prior to your first appointment.
You will then be asked to undress to your underwear (please bring shorts to wear if you wish) so that we can look at your posture and how your body as a whole is balanced, how you move, examine you and make a diagnosis. If we think we can help we start treatment immediately, if not we will recommend the best course of action.
Our treatment consists of gentle, hands-on techniques. The techniques used vary for each individual patient but may include massage and gentle stretch to muscles and ligaments, mobilisation and specific manipulation of joints and/or the extremely specialised and gentle techniques, commonly referred to as “Cranial Therapy” (“Cranial Therapy” is not entirely correct as it implies treatment of the head only, which is NOT the case; the WHOLE BODY is treated with these very gentle, but powerful, techniques).
Our treatment is gentle, but people vary in their sensitivity and we ask you to tell us if you are uncomfortable during the treatment so that we can adjust it accordingly. It should not hurt and is generally very relaxing.
We also give you advice about posture and body use, general and specific exercises, and relaxation, although there may not be time for all this at the first session.