I just came across this article: Does Brain Plaque Point to Alzheimer’s?

With a grandmother who has pretty severe Alzheimer’s, I often think about what role CranioSacral plays in helping to keep our brain tissue healthy, and how I as a bodyworker practicing CranioSacral Therapy can help in the prevention of this ‘disease’. I know that there are many, many theories out there about what causes Alzheimer’s and research is ongoing. My belief is that a poor brain environment plays the biggest factor in whether or not one develops Alzheimer’s. What do I mean by this?

Many studies, including the one linked above, talk about deposits, or plaques, on nervous and glial cells of the brain and spinal cord. Others talk about heavy-metal toxic build-up. Some look at brain tissue deterioration. While they all have a different theory and focus to their research, there is one common factor in all of these: the immediate environment of brain tissue. Specifically, cerebrospinal fluid.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is the interstitial fluid of the brain and spinal cord. In other words, it is found in all the spaces around the nervous and glial cells of the brain and spinal cord. It bathes all of the tissues and cells of our nervous system. CSF carries nutrients to the tissues, removes metabolic wastes, removes toxins, helps regulate pH, and supports the electromagnetic environment for nervous system neurons and cells.

In November 1998, volume 854, The New York Academy of Sciences talked about CSF having chelating agents that remove metal atoms to help prevent oxidation and toxic build-ups. You can clearly see how important CSF is to the health of our nervous system.

Stanford University released results of a study

that concluded that the rate of CSF production in patients with AD is markedly reduced.

On average CSF turnover is about 4-5 times per day. What happens as we age and this slowly tapers to 3 times per day or even 2 times per day? Is our brain getting the nutrients it needs? Is our tissue struggling in an environment of dirty, stagnant CSF?

But how can one maintain a healthy environment for his/her nervous system? How does one access cerebrospinal fluid to help support its vital role in our body? One way is through CranioSacral Therapy.

I believe CranioSacral Therapy (CST) to be beneficial in helping to prevent Alzheimer’s because our work is directly focused on enhancing the movement of CSF throughout the craniosacral system. A major focus of CST is the evaluation of the craniosacral system to determine if there are any restrictions in the system which may be causing problems in the body. We evaluate the bones of the skull, vertebrae and pelvis looking for areas of immobility. Using very light forces (usually in the range of 5 grams of pressure) we apply techniques to remove restrictions and enhance natural, physiological movement. This gives the system (and the entire body) a chance to function as it was intended: to regulate CSF with ease.

We also apply techniques which directly impact cerebrospinal fluid exchange: Still Points and cranial pumping. I’ll be discussing each of these in future posts. For now know that it is possible to effectively enhance the environment of our nervous system.

I will be talking about CranioSacral Therapy a lot in future posts. CST may not be a ‘cure all’ but I do believe when given the chance, the body has amazing healing abilites. While CST may not reverse Alzheimer’s, I truly believe it can help prevent it from progressing any further. And for those of us who are healthy, I believe CST can help us maintain good health well into our golden years.