Case study in pediatric asthma: the corrective aspect of craniosacral fascial therapy.

C H A 2 t b b NTRODUCTION sthma is an inflammatory disorder of the airways that causes heezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing. Nine illion children in America under the age of 18 have been diagosed with asthma. The asthma rate in American children under he age of five has increased more than 160% from 1980 to 1994. pproximately 5,000 Americans die every year from asthma. ealthcare costs in America for asthma are over $16 billion annully. An estimated 300 million people of all ages and ethnic backrounds from all over the globe suffer from asthma and approxiately 250,000 people a year die from it. Current Western treatment focuses on managing asthma with wo types of medication. Anti-inflammatory drugs (corticosteoids) reduce swelling and mucous formation in the airways. econdly, bronchodilators relax the smooth muscle cells that ighten around the airways; the child’s breathing improves when he tracheobronchial tree opens. An alternative strategy for reducing and potentially eliminatng asthma symptoms involves manipulation of the craniosacral ascial system. This system is an integration of the craniosacral nd fascial or connective tissue components. Sutherland disovered the craniosacral aspect about 100 years ago. He found hat the cranial bones and sacrum moved as the brain breathed.” More recently, Upledger and Vredevoogd furhered the concept by discovering that the strain from trauma as primarily held in the connective tissue of the cranial dura nd not the bones. In the craniosacral concept, human physiology is strongly ependent on the slight motion of the brain and spinal cord and he fluctuation of the cerebrospinal fluid within the meningeal nd osseous systems. Craniosacral theory holds that trauma an impair the normal rhythms of this fluctuation and result in isease and organ dysfunction. Manual therapy can help rebalnce these natural nervous system rhythms and allow a return to ealth. Craniosacral therapy is currently being recognized as an imortant tool for an integrated approach to healthcare. Erickson t al presented a case study of a child with recurrent otitis edia and upper respiratory illness. This child, who had reactive irway disease potentially developing into asthma, responded ositively to craniosacral therapy as part of an integrated aproach. Mehl-Madrona et al studied the synergy of acupuncure and craniosacral interventions in the clinical outcomes of dults with asthma. In their investigation of 89 chronic adult