Greek physician Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) once declared that the “natural forces within us are the true healers of disease.” In the centuries since then, medical science has undergone incomprehensible advances.

Yet for all of our technological wizardry, it is more apparent every day that nothing dreamed up in a laboratory has more power to facilitate true healing than the essence of nature itself.

When we refine our ability to channel that power through our bodies and minds, we become the living medical instruments we were meant to be. This is demonstrated to me every day with stories like that of Donna Busse, LMT, CST-D. Here she shares an experience she had with a migraine client who couldn’t be helped by conventional medicine alone. (The client’s name has been changed to protect her privacy.)

Theresa is a 36-year-old practicing RN who is married with a 3-year-old child. She presented with migraine headaches that started in 1993. The migraines usually would occur once a week for two to three days at a time. She had discomfort behind her right eye. Lights and noise aggravated her pain and she experienced nausea, but no vomiting.

Under physician’s care, Theresa tried numerous therapies to relieve the pain. The first consisted of food elimination and special diets, with no results. She attended the headache clinic at a nearby teaching hospital and received a CT scan, which was negative. She tried numerous drug therapies, but none of them reduced the length or duration of the pain. By the time she came to see me, her physician was scheduled to inject her scalp with Botox to relax the musculature.

After arcing her body, I was drawn immediately to her sacrum. It was extremely tight with little range of motion. Her sacral base was pulled to the right. Her O-A (occiput-atlas axis) was very tight, especially on the right side. Her dural tube appeared twisted.

All of Theresa’s cranial bones felt tight, especially the sphenoid and temporals. The sphenoid had an extension lesion and a right torsion. Her maxillae and vomer were compressed. The right palatine presented in a locked superior-medial position.

After further examination and discussion, Theresa remembered she had experienced pain in her right lower back after lifting a patient years ago. I found her right quadratus lumborum to be extremely tight. After helping her stretch this muscle and performing some muscle energy techniques, her pelvis was balanced.

Using the L5/S1 iliac gap and mild traction, her sacrum mobilized and became midline. After several sessions, the O-A also had a nice release. After decompressing the maxillae and vomer, I felt more movement in the sphenoid. Then, after addressing the sphenoid, the extension lesion and right torsion were balanced. Theresa’s right palatine mobilized and balanced nicely.

Throughout her sessions with me, Theresa’s entire membrane system demonstrated increased movement, especially in the tentorium after the temporal and sphenoid work. I used direction-of-energy techniques to help release several energy cysts from her sacrum, right iliac crest and sphenoid. The twist in her dural tube appeared to be gone.

The day after her first session, Theresa experienced a headache, but she was amazed because it lasted only one day. Two-and-a-half weeks later, she had another one-day headache. On the day of her fifth visit, she had a small headache, but it was gone by the end of our session. Since then, Theresa has remained headache-free. She said that during this time period (60 days), she usually experienced at least 28 days of pain. While under my care, she had only two days of mild pain.

I saw Theresa for a total of six sessions, each one hour in duration. The first three sessions were a week apart, and the remaining two were two to three weeks apart. The cost of CranioSacral Therapy has been $300. She said her previous treatments cost about $3,000.

Written by John Upledger, DO, OMM