Osteopathy and Arthritis

Arthritis is an inflammation of any joint. There are two types of arthritis: osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Osteoarthritis is often described as a wear and tear of the joints caused by age, repetitive actions, and obesity and also altered postural and biomechanics (movements of the body) such as a past trauma, growth of the body, and a traumatic experience such as birth, or a vehicle accident.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is described as an autoimmune condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the body’s own tissue. Rheumatoid arthritis usually affects the entire body with the most often affected joints being the ankles, feet, hands, knees and wrists.

The joints can be warm, tender and swollen. Typically there is a discoloration of the skin over the joint that looks purplish. Joint deformities of the hands and feet as the disease progresses are quite common.

The symptoms of arthritis center on the joints due to inflammation so specific movements and treatment techniques are used by the osteopathy medicine clinicians to encourage the movement of fluid around the joints and tissues to help in the removal of the inflammatory substances from the joints. The techniques used also reduce the pain of arthritis. Diet and lifestyle can also help to reduce symptoms of arthritis.

Diagnosis

X-rays, blood tests, and MRI scans may be used to help assess the extent of the arthritic condition. Even though nothing can be done to undo the damage already done by arthritis osteopathic treatment can help to reduce the pain, swelling, and improve mobility and range of motion of each joint involved. Osteopathic treatment can help with neck pain, low back pain and swelling, hip pain and lack of mobility, and early morning stiffness.

The treatment’s goal is to improve the mobility and to reduce the swelling by using gentle, manual osteopathic techniques on each of the affected joints, on muscles, and also on ligaments. Exercises at home in warm water or salt baths may be suggested as well as other exercises and lifestyle changes designed to improve function and reduce pain.

You Can Do It

No patient needs to accept the advice that there is nothing that can be done about the pain and suffering of arthritis. Exercise, diet changes and lifestyle changes along with osteopathic treatment can over time reduce the pain, and increase mobility. No patient is too young or too old to receive osteopathic treatment and care by those who are dedicated to helping your body to heal itself.

No person should suffer needlessly. It is possible for your body to heal itself once osteopathic treatment has better aligned the body and allowed the various body parts to work in harmony to help the body to better function, and to restore health to the body parts as well as to heal tissue as the body reduces pain and inflammation.

This article originally appeared on Science Beta.

Craniosacral Therapy for Babies

How CST can help relieve stress from birth trauma, colic and more.

After realizing the moms in her mom-and-baby yoga classes were not aware of how helpful craniosacral therapy (CST) might be for their babies, Colette Crawford, RN, founder of Seattle Holistic Center, decided to become a craniosacral therapist. “Over 20 years ago there was this movement that made new moms aware of how this gentle therapy could help their babies, but five years ago the moms in my yoga classes were not raising their hands when I asked if they had heard of or tried craniosacral therapy with their babies.”

After referring infants and mothers to CST therapists for reasons such as birth trauma and colic, Crawford wanted to be able to offer this gentle, hands-on therapy herself. “I’ll put one hand under the back skull and one hand under the sacrum, and I’m just holding the baby’s “handles” (where the spinal membrane attaches to the bone) and we see the baby relax. Now the mother is relaxed, too; I’m treating the baby and the mother is treated, too,” Crawford says.

Beyond the deep level of relaxation that CST can provide, moms bring their infants and babies to craniosacral therapists for many reasons, including:

• Birth trauma, such as issues from a vacuum or forceps extraction or an emergency C-section
• Trouble with breastfeeding
• Constipation
• Gastrointestinal pain and acid reflux
• Colic
• Not sleeping well, including early days when day and night seem to be reversed for the infant
• Teething pain
• Head-shape issues
• Problems stemming from the birthing process
• Earaches
• Developmental delays

For example, Heather Islander, LMP, CST, MIT, a Seattle-based practitioner whose training includes pediatric CST, treated a baby who wasn’t walking at age 2.

“The temporal and parietal bones located on the top and side of the baby’s head were overlapped from a difficult birth. During birth, the bones of the head naturally override and then expand back out as part of the birth process, but this baby’s bones had been unable to expand out to the ideal neutral position," Islander says. "The areas of the brain that had been affected process proprioception and balance. We were able to gently unhook that override in that first session. The day after treatment, the baby started crawling backwards, and soon she was pulling herself up to stand. Three days after the session, she was taking steps without any assistance.”

While no one claims CST is a cure-all for every infant issue, CST practitioners note that when a baby has compression anywhere in the craniosacral system — from the head at the top of the spine to the sacrum at the base — this type of massage can alleviate that compression, leading to symptom alleviation. An example of this is when a baby has had a frenotomy to free up a tongue-tied tongue and ease breastfeeding issues. Sometimes the breastfeeding issues continue and parents seek out CST for their babies.

“Craniosacral therapy eases the tightness in the baby’s mouth, head and neck, leading to breastfeeding success. Birth also effects the alignment of the baby’s head and body. CST aligns the body structurally and gets all the systems working properly — eating, pooping, sleeping,” says Barbara Coon, LMT, an advanced CST therapist who practices in Seattle.

The stress behind a child having any problem at all combined with the stress of babyhood and parenthood can make craniosacral therapy a fit for the whole family. Often practitioners will treat a parent and the baby during the same appointment. “Often it’s the mother or the father that needs treatment; the baby is just fine,” Crawford says. She tells the story of a patient who said the only time his mind could turn off and he could relax was when he was on her massage table receiving CST.

This idea extends to the post-birth days after any type of birth, but especially if the birth process was traumatic birth. CST practitioner Coon likes to have the mother hold the baby while she is working on the baby’s head and often the mother will tell the baby’s birth story.

“It’s such a nourishing experience. What I find when the mother is telling the story, the baby will be pressing into my hands, teaching me and showing me what takes place in birth. I feel this incredible connection to the birthing process while the mother holds her baby in her arms.”


This article originally appeared on https://www.parentmap.com/article/craniosacral-therapy-for-babies and was written by Nancy Schatz Alton.