A Craniosacral Practitioner We Love: Renee Hahn

The posts on this blog are based on my personal experience and are not medical advice.

As I mentioned in my last post on concussion recovery, the efficacy of the therapy depends greatly on the skill of the practitioner. I wanted to share some of my favorite practitioners in San Francisco. 

Renee Hahn's office is at 44 Gough at the Mission/Market St./Hayes Valley border. She has a doctorate in Chinese Medicine is a skilled acupuncturist and herbalist in addition to practicing craniosacral. She told me that Chinese medicine is the great love of her life. I found her style to be calm, cerebral, methodical, and deeply dedicated. 

Here, in Renee's words, are the benefits of the therapy:

The positive health effects of craniosacral therapy are many and deep for a host of conditions and illnesses. The benefits of working with a skilled, experienced craniosacral therapist for concussions and head injuries cannot be overstated. I am an acupuncturist as well as a craniosacral therapist. Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine are often a significant part of treatment. However, craniosacral therapy is able to access the fluid, dynamic movement of the cerebrospinal fluid and restore the proper motion of the cranial bones. In a concussion, the movement of particular bones has been impacted and impairs the movement of the whole cranium. Not to get too technical, but as an example a blow to the side of the head can result in the temporal bone becoming impacted and creating a lack of movement on not only on that side of the head but throughout the meninges and the tentorium. This restricts bloodflow to the brain. 

I have also seen many times in my practice of 16 years a person sustaining a concussion, then within the next year having some illness occur perhaps of the hormonal or immune system. Having an illness such as that appear is likely due to the craniosacral system being shut down. If the sphenoid and occiput, which are the main gears of the system, are not moving freely, the pituitary, which sits in the center of the sphenoid, will not be properly milked. This lack of movement can impair hormones being properly sent out to the rest of the body. 

There can be other problems which occur as a result of sustaining a concussion. That is one example. Once the proper movement of the cranium is restored, health is able to emerge and the person can heal to a greater degree. The sooner the person receives treatment, the better. However, even an old injury to the cranium such as a concussion sustained in childhood can be treated 15 to 20 years later.