Cranial Osteopathy

Osteopathy for babies and children

Cranial Osteopathy is a refined and subtle type of osteopathic treatment that uses very gentle manipulative pressure to encourage the release of stresses throughout the body, including the head.  We never use osteopathic manipulation techniques (the audible 'clicking' of joints) on our younger patients.

Cranial osteopaths are trained to feel a very subtle rhythmical shape change that is present in all body tissues. This is called involuntary motion.

The skull is made up of 26 bones which are intricately joined in such a way that during the rhythmical cycle of involuntary motion, the skull can actually change shape very slightly to accommodate the normal involuntary motion of the brain inside.

Impacts to the head can block or disrupt this movement. This can cause a very wide variety of problems both in the head and elsewhere in the body.

Using involuntary motion in the tissues, osteopaths can feel whether a person is in an optimum state of health, or whether there is something preventing healthy movement of the tissues occurring.  Most babies and children will require 3 - 4 treatments in order to benefit from Osteopathy.