It's hard to imagine that the engaging four-year-old with the broad smile and contagious giggle was, less than a month ago, frail and burdened beyond his years.  The boy spent his short life lying on a bed in the one-room Moscow apartment he shared with his mother, Maiga, and his grandparents.  Birth trauma with cerebral Palsy left Onar Bargior's body too rigid to allow him to crawl, let alone walk.  Maiga tried to find medical help for her only son but it seemed impossible for Onar to get the treatment he needed when their daily concern and worry was whether they would eat the next day.  The International Services of Hope, a nonprofit, medical relief agency in the United States, offered Onar his chance for a more active life.

Mother and son came to New York but surgeons disqualified Onar for a rhizotomy.  Fortunately, one of the doctors suggested the innovative program for brain and spinal cord dysfunction patients at the UI Institute in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.  The Institute, founded by osteopath John E. UI, is widely know for its clinical services which feature adjunctive therapies, and as a provider of continuing education courses for health care professionals.

On March 13, Onar began a two-week intensive therapy program with three other patients and a multi-disciplinary team of professional therapists.  Onar's specialized program included physical therapy, acupuncture, massage therapy, play therapy and the Institute's hallmark modality, CranioSacral Therapy.  This gentle, manual therapy detects and releases restrictions in the craniosacral system to facilitate the body's natural healing process.  The craniosacral system consists of the cranial bones, membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord, extending from the cranial vault to the sacrum.  The system includes the central nervous system and affects all areas of the body influenced by that body system.

Susan Trider, P.T., is the director of the Institute's Brain and Spinal Cord Dysfunction Program.  She described Onar's condition at the beginning of the program as locked in an extensor synergy, a condition rather typical of children with similar medical histories.  "While physical therapy works from the outside of the body inward," Susan explains, "CranioSacral Therapy focuses on the core system and works from the inside moving outward."  Not only does CranioSacral Therapy act as therapy in itself, but she also has seen it enhance any other therapy used with it.

"I noticed that Onar's hands were very tight and he was not able to pick up anything with the right one.  During the course of the program, I watched them become more open.  He was soon reaching for toys or food.  He was able to sit cross-legged, and get up on his hands and knees in a crawling position by the end of the two weeks.

"Having worked as a nurse for 10 years and as a massage therapist for the past sixe years, I see CranioSacral Therapy as having applications for nursing.  It's effective for stress reduction and for encouraging the body's natural healing processes.  It also helps reduce pain by decreasing muscle spasm and congestion in the tissue.

"Onar became more social and stronger through the combination of therapy, vitamins and wholesome food.  His system became more balanced.  There was a decrease in the spasticity.  After two weeks of relaxing, Onar began a second intensive session in April.  I was happy to see him again, looking tanned with his hair lightened by the sun."

When Onar returns to Moscow with his mother, he will take the memory of new friends, sunny beaches and hope for a more active life.