Korean J Rehabil Nurs.  2004 Jun;7(1):68-77.

The Effects of Craniosacral Therapy on Chronic Headache

• Choi SS
• Park HS

Abstract

The Purpose of this study is to explore the effects of Craniosacral therapy(CST) on the chronic headache patients, and the research was used the one-group pretest-posttest design. The subjects were 31 chronic headache patients, who received Craniosacral therapy by once per week for 6 weeks. The data were collected from July 1, 2003 to August 28, 2003. In order toevaluate the effects of craniosacral therapy, Visual Analogue Scale(VAS) for headach intensity, blood pressure, pulse rate, respiration rate, craniosacral rhythm rate, depression and stress perception were measured before and after treatment. The results are as follows : 1) The mean score of intensity of headache (VAS) significantly decreased after each session of Craniosacral therapy(F=86.14, p<.001). 2) The mean score of systolic blood pressure significantly decreased after each session of craniosacral therapy(F=6.99, p<.001), and the mean score of diastolic blood pressure significantly decreased after 3rd session of Craniosacral therapy(t=5.710, p<.001). The means of pulse(F=6.19, p<.001), respiration(F=7.93, p<.001) and craniosacral impulse rate(F=22.84, p<.001) significantly decreased after each session of Craniosacral therapy. 3) The means score of depression significantly decreased after Craniosacral therapy(t=6.627, p<.001) and stress also significantly decreased after Craniosacral therapy(t=5.987, p<.001). Therefore, these results of this study suggest that Craniosacral therapy could be an effective nursing intervention to reduce the intensity of headache.

MeSH Terms

Blood Pressure
Depression
Headache
Headache Disorders*
Heart Rate
Humans
Nursing
Respiratory Rate