1. A knee that had given long term problems
2. No other concurrent treatments from other agencies/therapists
3. Willingness to complete feedback form on each visit
1. Six hands-on sessions of 30 minutes duration at weekly intervals
2. Treatment only to the injured leg/knee as far as possible
Some cold spots in the knee area
Knee twisting
Knee rotating out
Felt blocked above knee
Coolness in the knee
A kind of gel trying to seep through
Slight pain in bottom of the scar
Twitches in the leg, sometimes even jolts
Knee wants to kick
Can't feel anything going on in rest of body
Knee expanded
Can really feel the injury site
There are rivulets of movement
Dull ache
Felt like wound bleeding into the trousers
Rocking sensation
Tremble in the leg
A "firing" [nerves] inside of leg
An icy blast came in briefly
A feeling of stillness and calm
Sense of drawing down from knee and ankle
Lots going on energetically below the knee, not above
Leg sensation as if trying to brake hard on car pedal
Tension in the jaw, sinuses
Tension in back of head
Knee went really numb to really hot in the session.
"Increased flexibility and improved ability to walk extensively with no awareness of problem or ache". This was an excellent result since that was what was hoped for. Though surgery had occurred to a cruciate ligament some 20 months before, client had felt that injury had occurred elsewhere in the knee and this became apparent in the treatment, which the intrinsic forces of healing within craniosacral therapy, attended to.
After 5th session "able to hop on the leg", which he had not been able to do for 10 years following a serious car accident when he was hospitalised for 2 weeks. His sessions seemed to return to his accident progressively going back in time achieving changes in the knee and finally he had a sensation of bleeding, which he had not felt originally - as he was unconscious at the time of injury. He was surprised but fine with this development. Commented "brilliant" result.
A Rugby player recuperating from cruciate ligament reconstruction 4 months previously. He rated improvement in the leg/knee to be 50% . He became "totally confident using it" as he began to run on rough ground, play football and ran a half marathon. He felt that the healing had greatly "speeded up his recovery". He found the sessions extremely "interesting, surprising and helpful".
Considerable "relief from ache and pain in knee" and consequently "sleep pattern improved" which was a key component to seeking this help. Though initially there was a brief worsening of symptoms health came into the injury site - accident from a white water rafting accident some 12 months prior when his knee hit a rock.
He had suffered wear and tear to the knee, had considered surgery and wanted to continue refereeing football. He "gained a greater confidence" about using the leg and went back to refereeing very successfully. Cautious about the results though well aware of healing effects in the knee itself during sessions and occasionally had fleeting connections to i. injury, aged 15, to this knee ; ii. bi-pass sites of surgery to heart some years ago; iii. old shoulder injury.
He always felt he "benefited from deep relaxation within the sessions".
Two further people started the treatment but owing to their high level of stress and poor vitality I encouraged them to pay greater attention to other aspects of their overall health before returning to this study. This low level of vitality is easily picked up in craniosacral sessions and needs to be addressed since a weakened life force indicates that someone is struggling already with current demands. These may be because of current stresses or more chronic (as in long term) problems ie running on a flat battery basically or one without sufficient spark.
Providing that a person is basically energetic and healthy and not overly stressed it is certainly of benefit to have direct work done to old injury sites. The body will definitely attend to the imbalances and distortions there and mend damage where it can. Everyone was extremely aware of exact points and areas where the changes were happening.
Participants all found the treatments helpful, pain-free and relaxing. They found the experience surprising and interesting. It was not just the injury site where there were benefits and they were discovering a new way of having health come into a place of discomfort/pain.
As a craniosacral therapist the participants' observations came as no surprise yet they are all individually intriguing and unique to the healing of that one person. Awareness by participants of forces moving within them is helpful.
Changes and improvements continued for all 6 sessions, which was interesting to all. Most felt that the work was not quite complete even after 6 sessions and that their mobility had definitely improved.
What is happening in the healing within the knee can be replicated in any limb injury etc, so all sites of injury can be attended to by this method of treatment. I had not previously had the experience of people coming for such intensive work to one site (as it would be expensive) but speculate that for any sportsman seriously wanting injury sites healed to the maximum this treatment is an excellent one to pursue. I would predict that the greater the healing at any given site the less problem in later years and obviously there was much current improvement.