We all want what’s best for our babies, and mum Pippa Middleton has revealed her son Arthur has tried a treatment called craniosacral therapy.
This therapy is meant to have relaxing benefits, and Pippa Middleton swears it had physical benefits for baby Arthur.
It involves lying hands on the skull or spine to tune into the ‘craniosacral rhythm’, then manipulating the body to retune it.
According to Kam Penesar from London Osteopathic Care, this treatment ‘uses gentle, non-invasive techniques to gently manipulate the head and spine, which affects the whole body' and it's 'gentle, soothing and great for helping babies relax'.
She spoke about why she finds the treatment beneficial for Arthur in her column for Waitrose Weekend magazine, writing, ‘Soon after Arthur was born last year, I heard a few mums talking about seeing a cranial osteopath. It’s a popular alternative therapy for newborns, particularly those who have had a traumatic birth, are unsettled, or have trouble sleeping.’
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However, Pippa has also admitted there’s a lack of scientific evidence behind the treatment, adding, ‘It claims to heal, relax and promote sleep, digestion and body alignment through gentle head and body manipulation. While there is a lack of scientific evidence, after hearing positive things about it (and out of intrigue more than anything else), I took Arthur when he was seven months old.’
Pippa claims she was ‘fascinated’ to see how calming it was for Arthur, ‘The osteopath noticed one side of his neck was tighter than the other, which explained why he favoured one side sleeping. She also saw that his arms were stronger than his legs, so she gave me an exercise to help him.’
However, this treatment has received some criticisms from experts.
Flynn et all wrote in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, saying, ‘Despite more than 50 years of investigation & the promotion of CST by some practitioners, there remains a void in credible evidence supporting the ability of these techniques to alter the movement of the cranial sutures or improve patient-centered outcomes.'
Similarly, Dr Steve Hartman wrote in Chiropractic & Manual Therapies, ‘Craniosacral therapy lacks a biologically plausible mechanism, shows no diagnostic reliability, and offers little hope that any direct clinical effect will ever be shown.’
But despite its criticisms, some people do believe it can have a calming effect and can aid sleep and relaxation. And Pippa Middleton seems to be getting on well with it by taking Arthur to sessions, so maybe it can help?
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