Shari Stamps doing infant craniosacral therapy
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Is Craniosacral Therapy Legitimate?

ByJenny Reading Time: 10 minutes
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Have you ever wondered if something was missing from your or your baby’s care plan? I’m diving deep into why craniosacral therapy (CST) is often the missing link in whole-person wellness — especially for babies, new moms, and anyone dealing with neck pain, TMJD, oral ties, chronic pain, or nervous system dysregulation.

We’ll explore the history and benefits of craniosacral therapy, how it connects to modalities like cranial osteopathy, and how it supports everything from your brain and spinal cord to cerebrospinal fluid flow and cranial sutures. You’ll also learn about the effectiveness of craniosacral therapy (even for skeptics wondering if craniosacral therapy is legitimate!) and why it’s so powerful when used alongside other therapies. After reading through, please be sure to let me know what you learned in the comments below!

🎧 Listen to the Episode

Prefer to listen? You can stream the episode here:
🎙️ The Magic of CST — Navigating Parenthood Podcast

⏱️ Podcast Timestamps

  • 00:00 – Welcome & Intro
    Why I do this work, and what we’re about to dig into
  • 01:00 – Why I’m obsessed with CST
    (Like Windex in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” but for fascia)
  • 02:15 – What is craniosacral therapy, anyway?
    History, origins, and how John Upledger helped define it
  • 04:10 – How CST differs from massage, chiropractic, PT, etc.
  • 06:00 – Fascia, trauma, and the nervous system
  • 08:00 – The body keeps the score
    Emotional trauma, anxiety, and physical symptoms
  • 10:40 – How CST uses light pressure to go deep
    (Yes, five grams—less than a dime!)
  • 13:30 – Why fascia matters before chiropractic or oral tie release
  • 15:00 – Pediatric craniosacral therapy and infant bodywork
  • 17:10 – Releasing stored trauma gently and safely
  • 20:00 – The tangled necklace analogy
    How CST unwinds tension in layers
  • 23:00 – What to expect in a CST session
  • 26:00 – My story: From skeptic to practitioner
  • 30:00 – Finding the right CST provider
  • 34:00 – Wrapping up + how CST changes lives

Is Craniosacral Therapy Legitimate?

Craniosacral therapy isn’t “woo,” it’s a missing piece. I always say craniosacral therapy is to me like Windex is to the characters in My Big Fat Greek Wedding — I recommend it for everything. That baby won’t latch? You need CST. Still dealing with neck pain months after giving birth? CST. Baby not tolerating tummy time? CST. It may sound dramatic, but when you understand how the body’s fascia holds onto perceived tension and trauma — both emotional and physical — you start to see why CST is often the foundational support missing from care plans… and why after years in the lactation and postpartum space CST tied everything together for me as a mom & pediatric wellness practitioner.

What Is Craniosacral Therapy?

Craniosacral therapy is a gentle, hands-on therapy rooted in osteopathic principles. It was popularized in the United States by Dr. John Upledger, who studied the flow of cerebrospinal fluid between the brain and spinal cord. From his work came the understanding that the body has a third rhythm — a craniosacral rhythm — that can become blocked by perceived emotional or physical trauma and stress/tension. From Upledger’s training, Carol Grey created pediatric CST education around the infant’s perspective. Then in 2021, Canadian RMT, Meaghan Beames, combined these teachings to expand maternal and infant CST as we know it while also making the education more accessible worldwide and to different types of practitioners (I teach here!). Check out Meaghan’s podcast episode about the history/herstory of CST for a more in-depth explanation.

You may also hear terms like myofascial release or TFT (Tension & Trauma Release) and CFT (craniosacral fascial therapy), depending on the training. Bottom line: the right CST provider will work with the cranial bones, cranial sutures, and the whole body’s fascial system using incredibly gentle touch — mostly just 5 grams of pressure or lighter (unless an area calls for more intention) — and will offer the space for difficult emotional or physical releases when the client needs it rather than pushing through it.

What Does Craniosacral Therapy Do?

  • Supports the nervous system
  • Eases neck pain and head and neck tension
  • Reduces symptoms of chronic pain
  • May help relieve migraines and headaches
  • Enhances the body’s natural healing processes
  • Improves mobility in cranial sutures (head shape)
  • Promotes emotional release and stress relief (thus feeding issues and some physical tension patters)
  • Works through nerve dysfunction (improves feeding, locating faux ties, etc.)
  • Pre and post procedure support for optimal results
  • So much more

How Craniosacral Therapy Works

Craniosacral therapy uses a light touch, often 5 grams (the weight of a nickel) or lighter, to palpate the craniosacral rhythm (CSR) and fascial restrictions in the body. Once found, the CSR is brought to a more balanced rhythm, and the body’s fascia is moved toward the release of tension or torsion patterns.

Restoring Fluid Flow

One of the key benefits of craniosacral therapy is its focus on cerebrospinal fluid movement. This fluid bathes the brain and spinal cord, and imbalances in its flow can affect the whole body. CST seeks to restore this flow, which can also reduce inflammation and ease tension.

Releasing Fascial Restrictions

Let’s say you go to a chiropractor and keep needing the same adjustment over and over. Or your PT can’t figure out why your chronic pain persists. Often, it’s because fascial tension hasn’t been addressed. Fascia is a protective, sticky, crystalline web that holds our muscles, bones, and organs together. When it locks up, it throws everything else off, often creating chronic pain, but it isn’t great at releasing after, and all of that ends up being stored in the body. The older we are, the more complicated the fascial restrictions can be as they pile on, intertwine, and become a “normal” for us.

That’s why I say CST is the foundation. Releasing fascia means you can get longer-lasting results from your chiropractor, PT, or oral tie specialist (DDS, who is a frenulum specialist). And people are often surprised that you don’t need force to go deeper into the body to reach the fascia. I like to use an oobleck demo I learned from Thomas Myers in an Anatomy Trains class to illustrate how the fascia works for people new to this type of therapy:

Make oobleck (cornstarch + water) and try hitting it. It resists. Place your fingers above the oobleck, barely touching the surface. The substance under your fingers will begin to almost melt under your fingertips, allowing you to slowly move through it. This is similar to the fascia in the body. It retracts easily to protect us but needs very light, gentle and intentional/mindful touch in order to release.

Emotions Are Stored in the Body

The Body Keeps The Score (Amazon affiliate link to book), literally. A smell, a date on the calendar, even a gentle CST hold can trigger a release of stored emotion. This is normal and healing. Your body wants to feel safe, and CST creates space for that. Unprocessed emotions or emotional perceptions of danger can get stuck in the body and manifest into physical symptoms. This means that whether you went into a CST session with hip pain or neck pain and left the session feeling anxious or angry as you processed the release the next day or so, or you went in full of emotions and left feeling better in your own body the CST session is working on both the physical and emotional.

Body Listening

In CST, we work with the body, not on/to the body or against it, and that’s how we optimize the healing process. Though clients are given a thorough intake & evaluation, a variety of assessment tools are used to determine where in a client’s body is the best area to start treatment based on where their body is wanting a fascial release first before other areas can be addressed. Sometimes this means working on the fascia before balancing the CSR or vice versa. Sometimes energy work such as taking away excess energy from an injury or adding energy to an area of low-vitality is needed before other work. By listening to a client’s body, a CST is able to understand where a client’s body does not want treatment (at least, not yet) and respect boundaries.

Balancing the Nervous System

Because CST interacts with the brain and spinal cord, it also helps regulate the autonomic nervous system. Clients often report a state of deep relaxation during and after sessions.

Who Is Craniosacral Therapy For?

Any person who has ever been born could benefit from CST and because it’s easier to make impactful changes sooner rather than later, I personally focus mainly on maternal & infant craniosacral therapy and pediatric craniosacral therapy. Yes, babies store tension too — whether from a fast birth, a long NICU stay, or just the transition to life outside the womb. Add in things like oral ties, birth injuries, or reflux, and you’ve got a baby who needs help unwinding from the inside out. Dogs, cats, dolphins, and horses have also been shown to benefit from CST.

Before a frenectomy, CST helps prep the body for better release outcomes. Afterward, it supports integration and healing. And for parents—especially postpartum moms—CST is often the first time they feel safe, seen, and regulated in their nervous system since giving birth. Below are a few

  • Infants with feeding or sleep issues
  • Children with developmental delays or sensory issues
  • Adults with chronic pain, including neck pain and headaches
  • Individuals recovering from physical or emotional trauma
  • People experiencing anxiety or nervous system dysregulation
  • Pregnant individuals and postpartum moms

Does Craniosacral Therapy Work?

There are multiple anecdotal reports and case studies pointing to the effectiveness of craniosacral therapy. Clients describe feeling more relaxed, experiencing reduced pain, and noticing long-term changes in conditions like TMJ dysfunction, migraines, and trauma-related tension. Clinical trials are limited since CST is considered alternative wellness and not the typical standard of care in modernized medicine. However, more modalities are starting to see the benefits of CST and incorporate it in their work. I’ve also trained IBCLCs, chiropractors, OTs, PTs, LMTs, RMTs, SLPs, osteopaths, midwives, doulas, and more in craniosacral therapy. Dr. Zaghi of The Breathe Institute, as well as other airway-informed dental, feeding and speech professionals are starting to incorporate CST into their own patient care for optimal outcomes after noticing the important role it plays in the fascial restrictions of their patients.

Some of the Research on the Effectiveness of CST:

Whole Person Healing Starts Here

If you’ve never experienced craniosacral therapy — especially pediatric or infant CST — I hope this post inspires you to give it a try. Whether you’re working through neck pain, chronic stress, birth recovery, or oral tie support, CST can offer a level of safety and unwinding your body has been craving.

You were never meant to do this alone. And you don’t have to.

❤️ Ready to Learn More?

Connect with me on Instagram @NavigatingParenthood, explore CST and oral tie resources at NavigatingParenthood.com, or book a session.

You’ve got this—and I’m cheering for your healing journey every step of the way. 💛

Is Craniosacral Therapy Legitimate?
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