Enjoy a sample of unsolicited emails sent by clients and therapists from around the world to instructors and modality developers. Each personal note highlights the efficacy of an Upledger Institute modality: CranioSacral Therapy, Visceral Manipulation, Mechanical Link, Lymph Drainage Therapy or Healing from the Core. Each note is posted with permission from the author.

Dear Dr. Upledger:

This story will introduce you to a remarkable little boy with the spirit and tenacity to survive despite severe medical conditions and interventions. From a child dependent solely upon gastronomic tube feedings for sustenance, with the addition of CranioSacral Therapy he has advanced to a level where he can now eat at least one decent meal orally over the course of a given day, and sometimes more..

BJ was born with a high imperforate anus and a colourethral fistula, as well as a laryngeal cleft and a glottis stenosis. He was born full-term, the first of two boys to his married parents who love him dearly. His umbilical cord was noted to have only two vessels, one artery and one vein. His APGAR scores were 9 and 9.

Surgery was performed within 48 hours of birth to insert a colostomy. Abnormal swallowing was noted in the second week of life and a type 1A laryngeal / tracheal cleft was surgically repaired and a tracheostomy was inserted. The trach tube remained for nearly two more years. Multiple tests were performed to assess for other congenital anomalies and, other than a mild heart murmur (benign), all other medical workup was considered normal. A gastrostomy tube was permanently placed at five weeks old due to the persistent risk of tracheal aspiration. He suffered pneumonia and respiratory infections multiple times.

A very small subarachnoid hemorrhage was noted during the first month of life, but symptoms of muscle stiffness seemed to resolve spontaneously. Failure to thrive was his biggest challenge throughout his first year.

At 11 months, he was readmitted to the hospital for surgical correction of the colon and anus, and he tolerated these procedures well. However, by age 14 months, after having some success with oral feedings, it was reported he had refused to eat for the past three months and all food had to be ingested through the G-tube. He was often "gaggy" if the bolus was pushed too fast through the tube. He also often had loose and ill-formed bowel movements.

With the trach still in place, BJ required fairly frequent suctioning. His mother reported that every suctioning was traumatic to him. By age two, the trach was removed. Tube feedings required one to one and one-half hours of infusion to reduce emesis. He also had frequent diarrhea. Failure to thrive was still a paramount issue. He had by this time begun bi-weekly speech therapy for oral motor stimulation and swallow treatment through the feeding clinic at the children's hospital. He was making some small steady progress towards tasting foods (by licking only) and slowing increasing the number of flavors he would lick.

He and his family traveled out of state to a nationally recognized feeding program clinic for additional suggestions and opinions. Constipation now had begun to be a regular problem. A gut and intestinal motility assessment was also performed.

Besides the medical and nutritional management suggestions the family received to bolster his growth, a sensory-based feeding disorder was diagnosed. A videoflouroscopy was normal and reported there was no structural or medical reason that BJ should not be able to eat orally. This center recommended both occupational therapy for sensory integration work as well as a behavioral program trial. (The family had tried several versions of behavioral management for BJ's refusal to eat and they felt these strategies always made him more resistant and even defiant.) The family was having an extremely difficult time between discipline and limit setting to encourage BJ to eat and the ensuing power struggles that he ultimately always won. Quality of life for this family was greatly compromised.

Upon his return home, BJ was referred to our clinic to address the sensory reasons for his aversions to oral input. By this time he was three and one-half years old, he was precocious in his verbal abilities and very suspicious of any adult who might try to make him eat. By this time in his life he had endured 28 surgical and invasive medical procedures or tests. He is very handsome, physically capable in all play tasks, yet the only visual thing that set him apart from another child his age was the presence of the G-tube. He did have some fine motor and upper extremity weakness, but that was soon resolved. He was gaining fairly good bladder control, but did not have any bowel control as of yet.

Concerns noted in our evaluation, beyond what was already documented, included:

1. Multiple sensory defensiveness including auditory, tactile, and vestibular. Sensory modulation of accumulating inputs was often correlated to self-regulation of autonomic/sympathetic nervous system function.

2. Sensory processing dysfunction. Specifically, he lacked proprioceptive awareness in and around his mouth, couldn't feel his tongue placement within the oral cavity, etc. He couldn't move his tongue or lips to imitate postures, biting was very weak, and general movement of food (when we eventually were allowed inside his mouth) was poor in the placing and lateralizing of bolus.

3. Hyperreactive gag reflex, often occurring if lips were touched (on the few occasions we were successful at making contact). He continued to lick food, especially salt off pretzels, but he was resisting any new flavors at this time.

4. Compromised synchronicity and coordination between the rhythms of breathing, swallowing saliva, and jaw movements. He appeared to need to do each of these functions in isolation of the others. Because of the subtleness and the established pattern of this, it took us awhile to realize that BJ habitually sucked in air and "froze" it in his throat every time anything (food, hand, toy, whistle, etc.) was brought towards his mouth. So his refusal to eat may have had a very strong survival mechanism to it to protect his airway. Another subtle pattern we observed was when BJ eventually began to take bites of food and try to swallow, he flexed his neck and manually initiated the swallow process with his hand (but it looked like he was just holding his throat).

5. Phobic behaviors surrounding the entire idea of eating; controlling and severe manipulative behaviors even in his context of play choices; very wary and hypervigilent of people and his surroundings when not at home. He remained in a state of heightened arousal and he was seldom hungry. He had an extreme fear of getting hurt and of unexpected movements, though this tended to be more exaggerated when someone was close to him and he was more courageous when left alone in his personal space for gross motor play. Our behavioral assessment placed BJ more into the classic symptomatology of post-traumatic stress disorder.

To summarize the occupational therapy that BJ received, treatment strategies included:

1. Lots of sensory motor activities designed to raise pain threshold, reduce fear with movement, increase trust in an adult in these situations, and strategically, yet covertly, get sensory input into the oral region. This was most successfully accomplished by jumping into a large pillow pit when he face would get "smashed" and other play activities that had absolutely no obvious association with eating. It took well over a year to develop the prized "trust relationship".

2. Absolute child-directed and child-controlled play choices and then once trust was established, BJ became more willing to reciprocate turns. This was the first turn away from the extremely controlling behaviors that kept him from eating to please his parents. This then built towards a gradual willingness to "strike bargains" with BJ.

3. A long arduous process of using small pieces of candy or food as "tickets" to ride the fun things in the sensory motor (our version of behavioral modification) and increasing the variety and amount.

4. Oral motor strategies that are current "best practice" in occupational and speech therapy to improve sensory awareness and stereognosis, improve tongue control, jaw stability, lip closure, exhalation strength and support through rib cage, tidal volume with good blowing of air, and general oral motor praxis.

Over the course of two and one-half years of therapy with us, BJ progressed to a level of "nibbling" a variety of 10-12 favorite candies, 13-15 snacks or cereals, and drinking more liquids (about three to four ounces at a time). He would ingest these amounts regularly at home or the clinic, and would always nibble one to five bites of any given item. These "nibbles" were quite small and a goal was soon to increase the size of the nibble. Ten of BJ's nibbles was equivalent to an average child-size bit. He would not eat at school (once he began attending). His oral intake volume, however, was nowhere near any sustainable level. The prospect of removing the G-tube was still a long-term, slim possibility. Everyone on his team was pleased with his progress, but not satisfied with it.

He continued to have difficulty with bowel movements and frequent painful bowel activity, though he was making decent progress in bowel control with sensory awareness and getting to the toilet in time.

Then his therapist began attending CranioSacral Therapy courses and of course all clients were recipients of new techniques brought back to the clinic.

Following several sessions of pelvic diaphragm and respiratory diaphragm releases, BJ's pain with bowel movements ceased. He also became more willing and less obstinate to try food at home, so much so that his dad began coming to therapy for the first time ever to see what we were doing to cause these changes. Then his beloved grandma started coming to therapy for the same reason. She had noticed significant changes. He was able to eat a small (2"x2") piece of pizza or portions of a taco, though it would often take him over an hour to nibble it down. He did not eat like this every day, perhaps one to three things a week, but this level of oral intake was encouraging. Just not enough to be considered a full meal.

But the most striking and dramatic changes occurred when the CranioSacral Therapy work moved towards release patterns within the mouth: maxilla, ethmoid, vomer, and palatine releases. Following only two five-minutes mouth sessions, BJ went home and immediately asked for and ate four plates full of pancakes (plain, no syrup) and 8-10 ounces of Coke. His parents began (very excitedly) recording all he would try and eat.

One month later he continued to be eating at the same level: 2" piece of ham, Jell-O and gingerbread cookies all at one setting. Or a small portion of spaghetti and the meal did not stop even though he got sauce on his face. Eating the entire top of a bun of a hamburger. Trying small pieces of fruit, cut up, for first time. Trying chicken nuggets, even the meat inside and not just the outside breading.

Two months later, we were not doing mouth work each week and his eating started to diminish, so we made sure to do weekly oral releases. Currently, six months have passed since this exciting discovery and BJ receives a weekly oral session which essentially includes a quick series of the oral protocol developed by Dr. John E. UI. The physician managing his case has prescribed ongoing intervention with increased frequency with the prognosis of weaning of the G-tube. This decision was made based upon this recent progress.

The insurance case manager is equally excited, as well as supportive of this level of therapy and continues to approve biweekly sessions. Thus, BJ receives at this time, one half hour of CranioSacral Therapy intervention and one hour of mealtime work to address the residual

breathing-swallowing patterns. Also incorporated was cognitive behavioral strategies to bring in higher cortical coping control. (These efforts however proved ineffective prior to the physiological changes experienced through CranioSacral Therapy. BJ has also been able to recognize and locate regions of tissue tightness, most surprisingly around his trachea and hyoid bone. He offered an unsolicited suggestion that I needed to do "the skin stretches" around where the trach had been and deep into his throat (trachea) about a month ago.

BJ is now able to verbally work through moments where he might feel a gag approaching, or breathing support lagging behind swallowing. Prior to CranioSacral Therapy, he primarily ate only in our clinic and occasionally at home, never at school, restaurants, or elsewhere. Now it is not uncommon for him to report that perhaps once a week he tried eating at a friend's house or had bacon and cinnamon toast at the restaurant near our office, (a special place because of the locale, says mom). He says that the "skin stretches" are what helps him eat and our meals together help him eat new things. He verbalizes that he wants the G-tube out so that when friends stay overnight they don't have to watch the tube feedings.

This young man is a great inspiration to all who meet him and understand his special needs. It is appropriate to share with the world his story, and he gives his permission. He wants it to help others, too.

Susan Vaughan Kratz, OTR, BCP
Registered Occupational Therapist Board Certified in Pediatrics

Susan has been practicing for nearly 20 years and added CranioSacral Therapy (CST) to her practice approximately three years ago. She currently is in private practice in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

Dear Dr. Upledger, Melinda and Staff:

I am writing to give you some personal feedback about my post SomatoEmotional Release I (SER) experiences of last week.

Some background: I am second career chiropractor in practice for three years. (The first 20 years of my life I was a corporate Human Resources-Personnel- Director). I spent 12 years in Bioenergetics analysis doing extensive talk therapy and body work. I have recently taken the one week Avatar program. I have been involved with The Life Training, one of the original human potential self-development programs for 16 years. Incidentally, one of the primary processes in the Life Training uses a very similar dialogue approach to what is taught in SER. My first and only exposure to CranioSacral Therapy came with my participation at the seminars.

At CranioSacral Therapy (CST) I & II last year, I received some remarkable benefits, including the permanent realignment of my deviated septum in CST II, for which I had two unsuccessful surgeries.

I am writing tonight because the amazing shifts I have experienced physically, emotionally and as a practitioner are astounding to me!

On my first day back in the office, with my first patient and during all the rest of last week, I experienced a clarity and connection with them that I had not ever felt before, even with conscious focus. My hands and whole body seemed so much more finely tuned than ever before. The results of my work seemed to be so much deeper with much less effort. I had more confidence, I felt more love for my patients, and I had so much more energy. I really felt like I was flying and it lasted ALL week. I have no reason to believe that this will "wear off" as long as I continue to receive more CranioSacral Therapy.

Prior to SER, I had not made time to connect with some of the students I met at CST II so that we could work on each other. You can bet I will definitely begin and be regular about giving and receiving therapy now!

Since first taking CST I, I have used CranioSacral Therapy on almost every patient I see. My practice is transforming and so am I! I feel confident that I have enough tools to address every problem that is presented and make some improvement, if not complete problem resolution.

I have also gotten an even more holistic understanding of the body, specifically the craniosacral system and its impact on the whole body. CranioSacral Therapy has been the perfect adjunct to my non-traditional, low force, gentle and primarily energy work-oriented practice approach.

Dr. Upledger: Thank you for your vision, your clarity, your willingness to continue to open further and further inward and outward. Thank you for creating a program with such quality and integrity and presenting it with such consistently high quality. I have taken many chiropractic seminars and continuing education programs. None has equaled the quality and return on time and investment that I have experienced at all three UI seminars. I will keep coming back for more!

Melinda: Thank you for the skill and effort you expended to present an outstanding seminar. Your modeling of the dialogue in the demos was flawless, respectful, and gentle and set the tone for us to understand the sacredness of the process we have the privilege of facilitating. Your whole demeanor and presentation make it clear that you are a consummate professional.

SER I was some of the most profound work I have ever experienced personally or have facilitated as a practitioner. Thank you for teaching these life changing techniques so that we can help to transform, as we are being ourselves transformed!

With love, honor, respect and gratitude,

Dr. Fran Assaf

Dear Dr. Upledger:
Just wanted to say thank you for the wonderful gift of CranioSacral work. I was blessed with two great teachers Candice Starck and Suzanne Scurlock-Durana. The work I have learned has opened up so much for me personally and professionally and I love the results for my clients and the satisfaction I feel in being able to help them. Thank you so much and I look forward for my next class and all that it will bring into my life.
Namaste
Mary D. Wheeler RN,LMT



Dear Dr. Upledger:

Just wanted to share our story with you. Our son, Alex was diagnosed with torticollis at 2 months of age. We were referred to a P.T. at our local clinic, whose name is Heather Bougie. She helped us to treat the torticollis with direct stretching of Alex's neck muscles, while treating him weekly with CST herself.

e are happy to report that he is responding quite well to the treatment! Not only is his head straighter, but also he is a much happier, calmer baby than he was just 5 short weeks ago. Heather is a gifted and considerate woman, who performs what I call "magic" on Alex each week. She is the closest thing to a "healer" I've ever met and I am so happy to have been able to go through this with someone as caring as she is.

What I thought was a terrible diagnosis for an already colicky baby, turned out to be a blessing for all of us. We learned that the colic symptoms were all related to the torticollis and now, since CST treatment, Alex's symptoms have almost completely gone away.

Heather and I have discussed my interest in this therapy and I am seriously considering pursuing this as a career. I witnessed firsthand the transformation of our son from a frightened, uncomfortable baby to a happy, gurgling, smiling one in 5 short weeks. Thank goodness for CST and especially for Heather Bougie!

All the Best,

Laura Toebes


Dear Dr. Upledger:

Client story: On Monday, I had the occasion to give a first ever CST session to a 57-yr old woman who had received a pacemaker 10 days prior... Not knowing much about CST, she came, in her words, to regain confidence in herself and life, to get more energy and to ease some of the pains... I did my usual and didn't feel like I "did" a whole lot... She was quiet and seemed relaxed for most of the session. She got off the table at the end and said: It was as if I had injected her spine with a huge syringe of relaxation. The relaxation spread from her spine throughout her body... She was happy and amazed. I was too!!! And thanked the Goddess for sending her to me! She'll be back next week.

Grateful and full!

Denise Gaulin


Dear Dr. Upledger:

I am a PT in the Buffalo, NY area. I had a patient who came in with a diagnosis of calcification of the disc between T4-T5 via MRI. She was 12 years old at the time. She initially complained of L sided headaches, neck pain, easy loss of balance and poor sleep. Her mom reported that her daughter had poor homework habits and generally had become a "couch potato". Normally she did very well in school and was extremely active in school sports. At her initial evaluation I found that the following: 1) normal cervical AROM except for moderate L scaleni, levator scapula and upper trapezius myofascial restrictions. 2) Increased tonus in L temporalis, massetter and lateral pterygoid muscles. 3) 1-3 second duration of her ability to stand on her L leg before loosing her balance. 4) Likely outer dural membrane adhesion at T4-5 with facilitated segments at this level as well 5) left sided torque during flexion phase in cranium with specific dural restrictions in L tent, squamal portion of L Temporal bone. L temporal bone with flexion lesion, sphenoid with left sided flexion and side bending lesions, left temporoparietal suture restricted. 6) CSR at 15 in spinal dura below T5 and 8 above T5.

Initially I started with temporal rock/wobble and circumferential techniques whereupon she immediately still pointed, started to unwind in upper cervical region. After a few minutes of this she promptly vomited. I had asked her if she wanted to hold for the morning and she stated that she wanted to continue. I then was drawn to the upper thoracic and began assisting her in unwinding the upper thoracic with significant heat release. At this point she remembered that she had whacked the upper part of her back when was 7 years old doing flips on a trampoline. We finished at this point her CSR normalized to 11 cpm throughout the system. The next session she reported 3 days of total relief before her symptoms came back (less intensely though). I continued working with her temps, sphenoid, added O-A and sacral techniques for 3 more sessions where by then her pain had totally stopped as well as her vestibular symptoms and she was able to return to her normal activities. I did see her again in 3 months later for 2 visits as her symptoms returned mildly. As it turned out she had a growth spurt in that time (2 inches). Some residual upper thoracic dural restriction were found and released and she was able to return to her normal activities.

Working with her was very educational and rewarding.

David A. Wojtowicz, PT


Dear Dr. Upledger:

Here's one for the books!

A few months ago I had the pleasure of receiving a client who was slated for orthopedic surgery. She demonstrated a lateral lumbar concavity of 40% and rotational components, which translated the level of C4 and extensive protective muscle spasming. She was in significant, constant, and extensive pain with apparent referred sequalae extending inferiorly down to her left foot.

Fascially, she seemed to demonstrate significant rotational drags in the lower extremity, which demonstrated the obvious cranial rhythmic impulse asymmetries. Arcing revealed active restrictions around uterus (significant fascial components), duodenum, liver, stomach and left pleural dome/clavicular. Her body tended to rotate around these active restrictions and demonstrated facilitation at the appropriate spinal segments, which in turn had a profound effect on the paraspinal musculature, as well as pelvic obliquity. Cranially, she seemed to demonstrate significant intra-osseous restriction at occiput, temporals, and maxillae, ethmoid and vomer. SBS patterns included extended/right torsion/right lateral strain. Also, significant intracranial membrane restriction (dural) was noted throughout the falx, in particular the falx cerebelli. The cerebellar area and associated brain structures felt quite compressed and sluggish.

Her personal history involved long-standing depression, a lack of desire, and a sense of hopelessness.

To make the story short, within 4 weeks (2 sessions weekly) she had significantly moved forward. Postural distortions, pain levels and frequency had decreased significantly (95%). etc.

The kicker is this....

She had an appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon upon which he didn't seem to recognize her as she was now walking (she was in a wheel chair the during the previous visit). He looked at her file and asked her what miracle medication she had been prescribed to get her out of such a serious situation. She proceeded to tell him that she was receiving CST, visceral, and fascial release, and he had no idea what she was talking about. Apparently, his ego structure was nudged as he proceeded to tell her to go back to whatever "therapy"/voodoo doctor she was going to as it seemed to be working for her and proceeded to exit her out of his office. Needless to say that he has never called me about the work.

I am happy to report that structurally she is as straight as a dime, that she has worked through some sizeable pieces of process material that seemed attached the active restriction patterns, and today once again experiences a desire for life, and has dramatically moved forward in regards to her emotional and expressive processes including her experience of the surgeon's judgment about her therapeutic choices. Reclaiming her stick (personal power) as some of my North African friends would say.

Sadly, I have often seen in the traditional medical community, ignorance and judgment such as this play itself through a process piece on the surgeon's part which is then projected onto the client. At the very least, it would be fascinating for such surgeons to learn something about the work before they travel into judgment/turf mode. Then again... let's not forget that there is no peer reviewed material regarding the motion of cranial bones and that there is no such thing as visceral motility (insert roaring laugh!)

Gotta love that voodoo! Cheers!

John Glenn, CPWE, RPP


Dear Dr. Upledger:

I am SO happy to be able to share my success story with you. I was taking antidepressants (Paxil, Zoloft and Welbutrin, not all at once obviously!) for a couple of years for what was called "situational depression". I hated every moment of it and I didn't get any real, consistent relief for my depression. I never knew what kind of day I was going to have depression-wise. But I continually felt that I wasn't "clinically" depressed--that there must be something else to it. While doing research about depression on the 'net, which led me to one of Dr. Weil's message boards, I read something about CranioSacral Therapy (CST). I was desperate to find an alternative to anti-depressants because of all of the side effects that I experienced--memory problems, nonexistent libido, flat lined emotional state, etc.--so I looked into CST. The message on the message board specifically stated that if one had had an accident of some sort that may have compressed the spine from, say, a blow to the sacrum, or may have hit the back of the head or fore head that this could cause an interruption in the flow of vital fluids throughout the spinal column and that circulates around the brain. This circulation carries seratonin and other vital compounds to your brain. I had had an accident rollerblading and I fell and landed directly on my tailbone about 2 years prior to reading that message.

After the accident it felt as if I was sitting on a grapefruit for about a month, then it suddenly was better. Some time later I began feeling depressed. I found a CST therapist through The UI Institute, Kim Luchau of Boulder CO, and saw her for 5 sessions. I no longer have to take ANY antidepressants and have not had to do so for over a year! I cannot tell you how happy I am to not have to take any more meds or wonder what kind of day I was going to have the first thing when I awoke each morning. I would love to tell everyone about my experience!

As a side note, my husband is a Psy. D. And, while he knows that my depression no longer exists, I don't think he believes it is because of the CST. (I think it is the "old school" mental health training in him that won't let him believe in alternative treatments.) But I KNOW it is!

Thank you so much for your work and your techniques. I hope you can feel even a smidge of how grateful and happy I am that you have given me back my life.

Yours truly,

Susan Demander


Dr. John E. Upledger and Alice Quaid:

I would like to relay an interesting occurrence during a session with one of my cerebral palsy infant clients. Alice will remember Sullivan From, who participated in the CST Pediatrics class in Pacifica, CA last year - he was one of the triplets. I have been seeing him every 1 - 2 weeks and he is making very good progress.

About mid-March, my wrists had been sore/stiff for about a week and were getting quite bothersome when I was treating clients. Towards the end of one of my sessions with Sullivan (I had been communicating very well with his brain during the session), I showed him my right wrist and told him how sore/stiff they have become and asked him to help my wrists the same way that I have been helping his body feel and move better. Sullivan immediately put the palm of his right hand on my right wrist for just a second or two and then the palm of his left hand. The soreness went away almost immediately. His mother had just come back into the room and asked what we were doing. I said, "Your son is doing reverse CST on me." I then presented my left wrist and he put the palms of both hands over that wrist. Since that day, my wrists have been slightly sore for only very brief periods of time with no sign of stiffness.

Hope this made interesting reading.

Warm Regards,

Dean P. Chang

Dear Folks at the Upledger Foundation,

I have some thoughts for sure!

In 1989, I was a patient for two weeks at the UI Foundation. I had been bedridden for three months with two ruptured discs. Although I had been told there was no hope except an operation, I held out for something else.

I had had cranial treatments from two doctors in the Bay Area to little avail, except for the day I mistakenly made two consecutive appointments on the same day. The next day, I felt incredibly better and only wished it would somehow be possible to have more
intensive consecutive treatments. This, I felt might be the answer.

Well, when I heard about the UI Foundation, I immediately started making plans to come. The two weeks of intensive treatments were nothing short of miraculous for me. At the end of the first week, I was running on the sand at the beach! This is from a person who had spent the last three months bedridden.

Fortunately, I was able to meet others with similar experiences, some with much more dramatic healings. I returned home with more recovery to come, but have never looked back. The experiences I had at UI with the intensive cranial work made me realize what a difference this work can make without the invasion of surgery. The human body is capable of its own miracles, sometimes needing only the guidance and encouragement of the hands of well-intentioned and skillful practitioners.

It has been my pleasure to have taken some of the UI CST courses and to put what I have learned to good use. I send my best wishes to all and most especially, my good intentions for the twins, knowing that anything is possible!

Sincerely,

Sally Khanna