Think of the human body as a telephone cord that gets tangled up and needs unwinding. Or a computer that stalls, requiring a restart. Physiotherapist Fred Samorodin uses such analogies to explain the benefits of craniosacral therapy, a gentle body-work treatment so subtle that a patient might not feel what’s going on until a session is over.

According to Samorodin, a trained craniosacral practitioner can restore the body’s natural rhythms using the lightest of pressure, starting on the feet and moving up to the head. He suggests thinking of a sea horse as it curls and uncurls in a symmetrical pattern while it moves through the water.

“Some crookedness comes because your body gets twisted, and never quite straightens out and needs some unwinding,” Samorodin said in a phone interview from one of his two Vancouver clinics.

This massage does not involve kneading or stretching. “In the case of craniosacral therapy, there’s not much stretching happening to the muscles and ligaments,” the UBC-trained physiotherapist explained. “It’s holding and loosening up the place where the nerves come out of the spine or the way that the brain is positioned inside the skull.”

A practising physiotherapist since 1976, Samorodin belongs to the Florida-based International Association of Healthcare Practitioners, which was founded by American osteopath and craniosacral therapy developer John Upledger.

According to the association’s Web site (www.iahp.com), the membranes and cerebrospinal fluid that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord comprise the body’s craniosacral system. This extends “from the bones of the skull, face and mouth (which make up the cranium) down to the tailbone area (or sacrum)”.

“Like the pulse of the cardiovascular system, the craniosacral system has a rhythm that can be felt throughout the body,” the site explains. “Using a touch generally no heavier than the weight of a nickel, skilled practitioners can monitor this rhythm at key body points to pinpoint the source of an obstruction or stress. Once a source has been determined, they can assist the natural movement of the fluid and related soft tissue to help the body self-correct.”

The Web site goes on to explain how this therapy can relieve chronic pain from injuries as well as stress-related conditions like headaches and fatigue.

Although its ministrations may be gentle, craniosacral therapy has met rough appraisals from some members of the medical community. In 1999, researchers at the UBC Centre for Health Services and Policy Research wrote a paper, “A Systematic Review of Craniosacral Therapy: Biological Plausibility, Assessment Reliability and Clinical Effectiveness”, concluding that the “beneficial effects of craniosacral therapy on health outcomes have not been demonstrated using well-designed research protocols”.

“Although incomplete, the research evidence supported the theory that the adult cranium is not always solidly fused, and that minute movements between cranial bones are possible,” the paper states. “However, none of the identified research demonstrated that movement at cranial sutures can be achieved manually.”

But according to practitioner Louise Kerridge-Judd, the manipulation of the skull bones is so light that craniosacral therapy can’t be classified as a strictly physical technique.

“In order to achieve or listen to the craniosacral rhythm, less is more,” Judd said. “We actually feel more through palpation when we aren’t pressing into structures to palpate them.”

A UBC-trained physiotherapist, Judd is the director of East West Yoga & Healing Centre in Vancouver. She said that although some doubt craniosacral therapy’s efficacy, the real test is whether or not patients feel better after sessions.

This is something to which 48-year-old businessman John Lee can attest. A regular client of Samorodin, Lee said that doctors haven’t really figured out a cure for his chronic headaches, but the therapy has eased the pain. “It’s very relaxing,” Lee said, swearing by this treatment.