Bodywork for Sensory Integration is a new book that offers a fusion between the sciences of structural medicine and neurobehavioral principles. While structural medicine suggests ways to discern the autonomic state continuum of the whole body, neurobehavioral principles, such as self-regulation and sensory modulation management, have become a primary need in therapeutic services for babies and children. Determining if irregular behaviors are “sensory” or “behavioral” is a daily challenge facing pediatric therapists.

It is well accepted that sensory and behavioral difficulties reflect autonomic nervous system physiology. Tension and tone of organs, blood vessels, and lymphatic movement play an underappreciated role in sensory regulation. The function of fascia and connective tissue, autonomic states of organs, cranial nerve pathways, and innervation sites hold important implications as sensory integration challenges are treated. The walls of blood vessels nestled in masses, the meninges’ tension, and the sensory cells’ structural health all have information relevant to sensory wellness. The sensory-compromised person whose body feels uncomfortable can benefit from Bodywork for Sensory Integration. Parenting a child with neurodiversity or sensory differences can be made easier by understanding the lessons revealed through receiving bodywork. Tangible strategies help the whole family move towards a place of comfort, adaptability to sensory responses, homeostasis, and stress management.

The information presented in this book came from a most valuable resource: the author’s clients. Kratz learned these lessons and shaped the opinions from an estimated 45,000 patient encounters. Bodywork for Sensory Integration supports formal education in various methods and guides the practitioner in discovering structural issues behind sensory challenges. Craniosacral therapy, visceral manipulation, lymphatic drainage, acupressure, and other soft tissue manipulation are the main tools. Professionals with a license to touch people can learn these techniques that assist self-correcting responses for modulation, regulation, and behaviors related to sensory wellness.

Bodywork for Babies employs a fusion of craniosacral therapy, lymphatic techniques, modified visceral-myofascial-interstitial mobilization, Susan Vaughan Kratz shares treatment routines honed through years of therapy encounters with babies. Written for any healthcare professional who can practice manual therapies, this book is also a gift to all parents who wish to understand their baby’s development and behaviors better. When their baby simply is not ‘growing out of an issue’, there are answers waiting to be discovered in the body. The body knows what the problem is and will guide the trained therapist to the exact spot.

The methods offered in this book have assisted in resolving digestive issues such as colic, reflux, constipation, and breastfeeding difficulties. Torticollis, tongue-tie, movement delays and reflex integration, misshapen heads, irritability and sleep difficulties are also routinely helped in significantly less time than traditional therapies. Self-regulation and sensory modulation are behaviors that communicate from the autonomic nervous system, and Bodywork for Babies has proven to be a direct treatment that helps the parasympathetic system become active, which turns on the “rest and digest” mode. Bodywork for Babies can be a wellness “spa-like treatment” as well as remedial intervention when functional problems don’t resolve on their own.