CranioSacral Therapy - Visual Symptoms

Came home a couple weeks ago from a continuing education class really excited about putting what I’d learned there into practice - it’s been going great!

During part of this class, we learned to understand the anatomy of the eye more intricately and work more directly with it. This got me really jazzed!

In the past, I’ve found relief from traumatic brain injury symptoms through CranioSacral therapy including: feeling overwhelmed by visual stimulus and needing to close my eyes during motion. I can remember my son driving me to an appointment with a therapist soon after one of my last concussions while I hunched low in the seat of the car, eyes squeezed tightly shut, hands clutching the armrest, wishing fervently that I could fit on the floor.

Those kinds of issues resolved long ago, but since I’m a road map of my life experiences, the practice treatment I received from a classmate felt wonderful and has been quite helpful for me. This could explain some of my enthusiasm for the eye work.

My own personal experience aside, I’d like to share a little bit about how CranioSacral therapy can help with visual symptoms in traumatic brain injury and migraine as well as with disorders like glaucoma and strabismus.

As you can see from this picture, the orbit that holds our eyes is made of many bones.

Small changes in their mobility and or position can make big changes in eye function. In CranioSacral therapy we work with all of these bones and the membranes attached to them affecting and helping improve orbital shape, eye orientation within the orbit and function of the optic nerve.

As you can see from this picture, the dural membrane that extends all the way from the end of our spine up through the base of our skull to line the cranium eventually wraps the optic nerve as it travels toward the eyeball and then transitions into the sclera that coats the eye.

Through this continuous connective tissue, strains are transmit into the eye from elsewhere in the body and vice versa. Nutrition for the optic nerve or the muscles that move the eye and ability to clear waste are just a couple of the many functions that can be impaired as a result of restriction in this membrane system.

Thank you for taking the time to scan this post! I’m looking forward to offering the eye work and other wonderful new pieces of information gleaned in class in a CranioSacral session with you or someone you love.