Concussion - Traumatic Brain Injury

CST is a manual therapy, which delivers some excellent result for brain injuries like concussion. During my Craniosacral years, I have treated various clients with concussion. As I am writing this blog it dawns on me, that most of my concussion clients here in Sydney are mainly people from overseas and familiar with CST. Why is that? In Australia, although growing, CST is unfortunately still only on the radar of a handful of doctors and specialists.  That is a shortcoming as CST has strong evidence that for many musculoskeletal, neurological, trauma and stress related issues and concussion, it delivers real value and in my humble opinion is imperative for anybody involved in contact sport.
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Concussion & Post-concussion Syndrome
Our brain is made of soft tissue, looking very much like a gelatine pudding, floating in a cushion of cerebrospinal fluid, enclosed in the protective shell of the skull, the (neuro) cranium.
 
Concussion is often caused by a hit or blow to the head, face or neck, where the force has caused the brain to move inside the head, bouncing and colliding into the walls of skull. This collision will send shock waves through the brain and can damage and tear the axons of neurons (nerve cells) which conduct electrical impulses to transmit information to different neurons, muscles and glands and can innervate multiple parts of the brain. This collision can lead to bruising, injury to the nerves and blood vessel damage. 
 
The force does not have to be hard. It can also happen with a smaller force. The essential part is that the brain has moved, striking the skull and/or twisting upon itself. It can happen through a sporting injury, like boxing or rugby for example, but also through hitting your head on a wall or floor. In one case, my client hit his head on a surfboard. 

Post-Concussion Syndrome
Post-concussion Syndrome occurs when there have been unremitting blows to the head, layer upon layer and unresolved chronic continuation of symptoms, usually seen in professional athletes. The movie ‘Concussion’ with Will Smith depicts this syndrome really well. One poignant scene in the movie is where he holds a glass bottle with a brain looking substance surrounded by fluid and shakes it, explaining: “The human brain sits in a fluid and is disconnected from the skull with no safety belts and when a person receives unremitting blows to the head, the brain chokes from the inside out, leading to a cascading series of neurological events”. "This can not be picked up from a CT-scan". This is known as CTE - Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. CTE can only be diagnosed via autopsy. Australian Researchers have recently uncovered the first evidence of Australian Rugby league players with a degenerative brain condition, commonly found in retired American NFL athletes. (ww.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/rugby-league-rocked-by-first-proof-of-former-players-with-cte). 

Symptoms
The brain houses our central nervous system and is pivotal to our everyday lives for all our functions. The effect of concussion can have physical effects but can also have a deep lasting effect on the nervous system. Concussion can cause cognitive, physical (neurological) and emotional symptoms and last for days, weeks or much longer, depending on the severity of the impact, how many other layered injuries there may have been and the resiliency, resourcefulness and fitness of the body at the time of impact.

 
Treatment
First and foremost, the brain needs to rest and this means restricting any activities that requires the brain’s excessive activity in order to recover: reducing time spent on phone’s, video games, TV, socialising and any form of physical activity. The brain needs oxygen and fluids to circulate so it can heal. It needs assistance on a neurological level and it needs a dispersion of the tension and this is where Craniosacral Therapy comes in so effectively.

How does CST help as a manual therapy for Concussion?
CST helps in a variety of ways including: 

• CST releases any external forces that may affected the cranial bones and/or been absorbed by the attached intracranial membrane system (the connective tissue inside our head), restoring motion to the bones and motility to the intracranial membranes. CST works on the cerebrospinal fluid and the autonomic nervous system.
• CST can decrease the pain signals and tension in the body and brain, allowing the whole system to relax, bringing the nervous system back into balance, breaking the pattern of excessive nerve firing, muscle tension, anxiety and sleeping problems.
• CST increases circulation to the brain, restoring the oxygen and fluid flow to the brain, allowing any lesions in the brain to heal.
• CST can loosen abnormal tension within the skull and body by releasing connective tissue restrictions, adhesions, compromised motion and any compensatory patterns in the skull or whole body.
• CST recognises the body’s ability to heal itself, as CST practitioners we set up the right environment to facilitate that process, giving the body a chance to move into a homeostatic state.
• In CST we can feel the presence of electrical vibration present in tissues and release the shock, the trauma that is being held in the tissues.

 
I personally work with images and what I feel and see underneath my hands as I am visually and kinaesthetically orientated. The bones of the cranium, the membranes around the brain and the cerebrospinal fluid move very finely in a certain rhythm, comparable to the ebb and flow in the ocean. Working and living around the foreshores of our beautiful Sydney Harbour, the water reminds me of the fluid in the brain, the rocks in the ocean as the bones in our skull and the seaweed as the tissues always beautifully dancing in a rhythmic way along the shores. I examine, feel and work with these subtle motions in the skull and in the body, picking up any disturbances or restrictions that impacts the body like e.g. abnormal membranous tension or suture immobility in the bones and work with the body to resolve these.

Research & Anecdotal Evidence.
Former US NFL Star Ricky Williams, benefited so much from Craniosacral Therapy, that he not only studied CST but also competed on the US version of Celebrity Apprentice in 2016, in order to raise money and awareness for Upledgers Institute Craniosacral Concussion & Brain injury treatment and research programs. There is a great mini pilot on You tube – the Ricky Williams Pilot study that hosts various long-term NFL Football players and here you can see, hear and witness how they benefited from a week long intensive CST: “Tinnitus was gone, foot placement, knees and hips much better, felt like a different body”. My favourite quote of a player: “with the cranio work each body parts were introduced to one and other, my brain met my heart, my heart met my body and they got along”. Cranio’s subtle touch definitely belies it power.

The research program at Upledger’s Concussion & Brain injuries program showed that outcomes were measured before and after treatment and 3 months post treatment. These outcomes showed statistically significant improvement in lessening the intensity of the pain, better range of movement and improvement of cognition, memory and sleep.
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https://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/craniosacral-therapy-may-help-lesson-symptoms-post-concussion-syndrome is a brilliant article of a mother who describes how CST helped her daughter in her Concussion recovery.
 
My own practice - Anecdotal
One day I noticed that there had been many clicks from Denmark’s Google Search engine to my website. This made sense when a guy by the name of Mads rang me – a young backpacker from Denmark who suffered from concussion after he forcefully hit his head at Bondi Beach, whilst surfing. He had been to the Dr, had his tests done but was not getting any better. He had to get better as he had English exams looming. Not sure what to do, he finally rang his worried mother back in Denmark. She knew just the therapy that could help and her Google searches lead Mads to me. I did Cranial work on him but also limited his screen time to limit the impact on his eyes and neural connections back to the brain.
 
Mads was so thankful that he ended up leaving me a great Google Review:
“I had a concussion which left me unable to look at a computer screen without feeling discomfort, as well as a constant headache for several weeks. After two sessions with Dorine, the headache is gone, and I am now able to continue my study and look at a screen again. I will highly recommend her therapy to anyone suffering a concussion”.
 
Steve, an English working Holiday Visa lad who on a night out, not entirely sober, had fallen down a few flights of stairs. He suffered from blurred vision, headaches and dizziness. He had been to see a specialist, was taking some medication but was still having issues and not fully fit. When he rang his worried mum back in the UK, she knew just the therapy that could help her son and her Google Searches from across the world lead Steve to me. When Steve came for his fourth visit, I asked how his symptoms were going and he told me: “ohhh (those......as if they had never happened), they are all gone”. I jokingly asked why he showed up for his appointment and he answered “oh I want to continue as I love the cranio treatments so much”.
 
And there are many other examples where clients did not necessarily have a concussion but displayed symptoms like brain fog, not being able to focus or concentrate, cognitive problems, neurological complaints or low-level anxiety as the tension went unresolved and consequently lead to compressions, restrictions and impingement of bones, tissues and nerves. Here the incoming force or energy that entered the body may not have necessarily rattled the brain but these tensional forces were absorbed by the bones or tissues through the cranium and transmitted through fascial lines or bones, causing a bone to become compressed and/or cause excessive tension in the intracranial membranal system. The force put into our head or body can compress bones or misalign them. The cranial bones can get stuck or jammed causing complications like headaches, vertigo or emotional and cognitive problems. These symptoms can be caused by cranial nerve dysfunction, which will be the topic of my next blog.

So here is to anybody suffering from a head injury, concussion and/or any kind of head, neck, jaw problems for that matter whom display these kinds of symptoms and hopefully will find their way to Craniosacral Therapy somewhere in the world, rather sooner than later. As one Football player said in the Upledger Research program: “Craniosacral was a revelation-what a gift”.
or
As your brain would say – I lobe it. 

References:
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The base of all my blogs is: ‘would my mother understand it’? – I purposely leave out jargon (meninges etc) and aim to simplify as best as I can. My aim is not to confuse with All there is to know and keep it relevant to the topic. Great detailed information and recommended reading for people who like to know more:

• https://qbi.uq.edu.au/concussion/what-is-concussion
• Ricky Williams Pilot Study – You tube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N05_BZAdZnk
• www. Massage mag.com – Craniosacral therapies-concussion
• https://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/craniosacral-therapy-may-help-lesson-symptoms-post-concussion-syndrome
• https://www.massagemag.com/craniosacral-therapys-concussions-and-cte-88271/

Great article

• http://www.upledger.org/docs/CranioSacral-Therapy-and-Concussion-Mariann-Sisco-for-FSMTA-Dec-2014.pdf