History

The craniosacral therapy evolved from a conventional osteopathy in the early years of the last century.

In the early 1900s, William Sutherland, an osteopathy student, challenged con-ventional osteopathic thinking about the fused bones of the human skull and pro-posed that these bones were not fixed but able to move. He experimented to prove the effects of that movement on physical and mental well-being and named his new treatment system Cranial Osteopathy.

Craniosacral therapy was developed from Cranial Osteopathy by osteopathic physician John Upledger in 1970 who noted the rhythmic movement of the mem-brane surrounding the brain and spinal cord during a neck surgery. John Upledger spent many years studying the craniosacral system and concluded that movement in the system was linked to physical, mental and emotional health and well-being. The Upledger Institute was founded in 1985 in USA with the aim to educate the public and healthcare professionals on the benefits of craniosacral therapy.