Craniosacral Therapy: What to Expect and What the Research Says
With our incredible Osteopath and Registered Acupuncturist, Andrea Goldberger
You have probably stopped mentioning it to anyone. The headache that arrives every afternoon around four. The jaw that is already clenched when you wake up. Shoulders that will not come down, no matter how many times you tell them to relax. Nobody has asked in years, and somewhere along the way, it stopped being a problem and became how your body feels.
It does not have to stay that way.
I know that from the treatment table as well as from beside it. Years ago, before I became an osteopathic manual practitioner, someone was doing craniosacral work on me. The touch was barely perceptible, and a memory surfaced that I had not thought about in decades. I was twelve, my closest friend was leaving Hungary for Germany, and I understood I would not see her again. What struck me was the location. It had been sitting quietly in my body all that time, and I
became aware of it only when a pair of hands rested there and waited. You do not have to know exactly what you are carrying to begin taking care of yourself.
What is craniosacral therapy?
Craniosacral therapy is a gentle, hands-on approach using very light contact, often around the head, spine, sacrum, and feet, to encourage relaxation and work with patterns of tension throughout the body. You remain fully clothed, and the contact is exceptionally light, often no more than the weight of a hand.
The approach has its roots in osteopathic medicine and was significantly developed by Dr. John E. Upledger, an osteopathic physician and surgeon whose research at Michigan State University shaped the framework many practitioners study today. His work developed and investigated the model.
Practitioners learn to pay attention to subtle qualities of movement and tension, including what has traditionally been described as the craniosacral rhythm.
If that sounds like something you might be skeptical about, I understand. I grew up in Budapest studying biology and physics, planning to pursue medicine. I came to this work because of what I experienced under my hands and in my own body, and it made me curious enough to keep studying.
I believe curiosity and critical thinking can exist in the same room.
What does a craniosacral therapy session feel like?
At first, it can feel like not much. Then it can feel like a great deal. People describe warmth or coolness, heaviness, lightness, spreading ease, subtle movement, or
simply deep relaxation. Some fall asleep on the treatment table, which I take as a compliment. You may become aware of an area you had not consciously noticed. Occasionally, an emotion or memory surfaces. If that happens, it can stay as it is.
You do not owe me a story.
There is no cracking. No deep pressure. Nothing to undress for. If anything feels uncomfortable, you tell me and we change it. Afterward, some people feel deeply relaxed or tired. Others feel calmer or lighter. Any of those is normal.
Craniosacral therapy for babies and newborns
Parents almost always ask about safety first, and they should. Craniosacral therapy for babies is exceptionally gentle. The contact is even lighter than what I
use with an adult, and sessions are brief. Your baby remains with you, in your arms or resting beside you on the treatment table. If your baby needs to feed, we stop. If they become unsettled or appear to have had enough, we stop. I
never want a baby held in a position they are actively resisting.
Parents often come after a long, rapid, or assisted birth, or because they have noticed that their baby:
• consistently prefers turning their head to one side
• seems more comfortable feeding on one side than the other
• appears to move differently from side to side
• has developed a flatter area on one side of the head
If you have noticed something about your baby's movement, feeding or head shape, you are not overreacting by asking someone to look. Craniosacral therapy should complement appropriate medical care. Feeding difficulties, changes
in head shape, restricted neck movement or developmental concerns should also be assessed by your baby's physician.
Parents sometimes tell me their baby seems more settled or sleeps more deeply afterward. Every baby is different, and I promise no particular response. Clinical trials of craniosacral therapy have not reported serious adverse events, which is part of why I am comfortable offering it to families.
This is quiet work. It should always move at your baby's pace.
What am I feeling during treatment?
While you rest on the table, I am attending to subtle changes in movement, temperature, tissue quality, and tension, noticing where your body moves freely and where it feels held.
In some craniosacral training, the term "energy cyst" describes an area a practitioner perceives as holding tension. This is terminology within the therapeutic model. It is not a medical diagnosis and does not describe something that would appear on a scan.
With my hands under your sacrum, I may perceive the tissues pulling one direction and then the other before they settle. My role is to wait and follow, giving your body time to respond.
At your feet, it sometimes feels as though one foot wants to move independently of the other. I hold both and give them time.
At the base of the skull, gentle contact is often especially relaxing for someone carrying tension through the neck, shoulders or jaw. People are surprised by that one. They come in aware of their jaw, and it is their shoulders that let go.
Why do adults seek craniosacral therapy?
Some people seek craniosacral therapy because they want something gentle. Others arrive after finding that stronger manual treatment does not suit their body.
People often come while experiencing:
• recurring headaches or migraines
• jaw or TMJ-related tension
• neck and shoulder tension
• stress and persistent physical tension
• discomfort following an injury or a motor vehicle accident
• difficulty relaxing during more direct treatment
Older adults often appreciate the lighter approach. And sometimes you come in about your back or hip, and I choose craniosacral work because your whole body feels too guarded for anything more direct. A braced body rarely softens by being pushed harder.
What does the scientific evidence say?
The evidence is still developing, and the findings are mixed. Patients deserve to know that.
A systematic review and meta-analysis by Haller and colleagues, covering ten randomized trials and 681 people with chronic pain, reported improvements in pain and disability while calling for higher-quality research.
Other reviews reached more cautious conclusions. A 2024 systematic review of fifteen trials found no statistically significant or clinically relevant benefit. Earlier reviews in 1999 and 2012 concluded the evidence was limited and of low to moderate quality. Research has also questioned how reliably practitioners can independently detect the proposed craniosacral rhythm.
What the research does consistently report is safety. Trials have not documented serious adverse events.
Clinical experience, patient experience, and scientific evidence are three different things. What I perceive through my hands and what you feel during treatment can be meaningful while remaining separate from proof.
I value the art of hands-on care and scientific integrity equally, so craniosacral therapy is offered here as a gentle, complementary approach rather than a proven treatment for a specific disease.
How many craniosacral therapy sessions will I need?
I keep this simple. Allow three sessions, then we assess your response honestly.
After the first treatment, you should have a sense of how your body responds. By the third, we should know whether something meaningful is changing. Are your headaches less frequent? Is your jaw looser when you wake? Are you sleeping more comfortably, moving differently, feeling more settled?
If nothing is changing, we reassess and change the approach. If it is helping, we space your visits out as your body becomes more resilient. I am not interested in seeing you every week forever. I am interested in helping you reach a point where you do not need me very often.
Craniosacral therapy, osteopathy, and acupuncture
Craniosacral therapy is one of several approaches I offer at Frame Fidelity.
I am also an osteopathic manual practitioner and registered acupuncturist, so your appointment is shaped around what your body needs that day. Osteopathic manual therapy addresses physical restrictions and patterns of tension. Acupuncture works with the body in another way. Craniosacral therapy gives me an exceptionally gentle option when someone is depleted, sensitive, or not
ready for more direct work.
Every appointment begins with conversation and assessment, and, whenever possible, you leave with something useful to do for yourself between visits.
Craniosacral therapy in Toronto at Frame Fidelity
If you have been curious about craniosacral therapy in Toronto, or you have tried more forceful treatment and found it too much, this may be a gentler place to begin.
I see patients at Frame Fidelity on Eglinton Avenue in midtown Toronto, and you need no referral to book, for yourself or your child.
Your first visit begins with a conversation. I want to know what brought you in and what you would like to change before I put my hands anywhere.
Craniosacral therapy is subtle work. You do not need to understand every sensation, and you do not have to arrive believing in anything. You can simply arrive curious.
Andrea Goldberger, R.Ac, DOMP, DNM
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