What is Osteopathy in the Cranial Field all about?
If you prefer reading, read on. If you would prefer to watch a video explaining Cranial Osteopathy, scroll down to watch a YouTube video on the subject.
William Garner Sutherland DO (1873-1954) graduated from the American School of Osteopathy (ASO) in 1900. As a student of Dr. Andrew Still (the founder of Osteopathy), he took the admonition to "keep digging" very seriously. As a senior student at ASO, Dr. Sutherland was studying a disarticulated skull in the North Hall, noting the beveled artiulcatons of the spheno-squamous suture. He had an inspiration that the bony cranium was capable of respiratory motion."Beveled... like the gills of a fish... indicating articular mobility... for a respiratory mechanism," he thought. This "guiding thought", as he called it, was initially quite confusing, but Dr. Sutherland could not let the idea go. Throughout his years of practice, with diligent research and study, he gradually developed a revolutionary expansion of the osteopathic concept. Dr. Sutherland's first public announcement of his new cranial ideas were presented in September 1929, before a district meeting of the Minnesota Osteopathic Association, in a paper titled "Bedside Technique" by Blunt Bones Bill.
Dr. Sutherland called his discovery "Osteopathy In The Cranial Field" (OCF), implying that he did not create anything new. He had simply applied osteopathic thinking and principles to the cranium. Many people have heard of "Cranial-Sacral Therapy", but do not know it came from Osteopathy in the Cranial Field. John Upledger D.O., the Osteopathic Physician who coined the term Cranial-Sacral Therapy, learned of this approach from his Osteopathic training. He used the information first taught by Dr. Sutherland and created a teaching protocol to teach non-Osteopaths, but he did not invent or discover anything new. He just came up with a new name.
Many people, including physicians, hold the incorrect concept that the cranial bones fuse together and maintain no motion past childhood. This is patently false, and has been proven so conclusively. One need only know that one means to disarticulate a skull for anatomical study is to fill it with an absorbant substance, like beans, and soak it in water. As the beans expand, the cranial bones will separate at their sutures. If these bones had been fused for most a of a persons life, then they should crack randomly not separate neatly along suture lines. Plus, Here is a link to an MRI study which demonstrates cranial motion over time. Furthermore, microscopic examination of the area between cranial sutures reveals connective tissue bridging the cranial bones. If they were fused and there were no motion, why would connective tissue be there? Not only, do the bones of the skull move, but this motion is connected with regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Here is a link to a wikipedia article for those unfamiliar with the autonomic nervous system. It has been shown that when Osteopaths are palpating Cranial Motion, the rhythm that we feel is synchronous with a well known physiologic phenomena called Traube-Hering-Mayer Waves (Here is the link to the study that established this). Also called Mayer Waves, these are Oscillations in blood pressure that occur in 10 second cycles and represent the ebb and flow of autonomic nervous input to the arteries. This same 10 second cycle is also seen in heart rate variability and Cranial palpation. This evidence proves that we are not making this stuff up, and that what we are feeling is directly tied into physiologic control. This is a powerful tool for treatment because autonomic imbalance is at the source of many disease processes. If your interest is peaked here is a presentation that looks at this matter in even greater detail.
By no means is this a comprehensive review of the evidence for cranial work, but hopefully it is enough to cause a skeptic to think twice and consider the evidence. If you have any questions feel free to email me or give my office a call.
Below you will find a youtube video created by Dr. Andrew Weil in the 1980's focusing on the work of one of the most legendary Cranial Osteopaths, Robert Fulford D.O. Dr. Fulford also happens to be my mentor's greatest influence.
William Garner Sutherland DO (1873-1954) graduated from the American School of Osteopathy (ASO) in 1900. As a student of Dr. Andrew Still (the founder of Osteopathy), he took the admonition to "keep digging" very seriously. As a senior student at ASO, Dr. Sutherland was studying a disarticulated skull in the North Hall, noting the beveled artiulcatons of the spheno-squamous suture. He had an inspiration that the bony cranium was capable of respiratory motion."Beveled... like the gills of a fish... indicating articular mobility... for a respiratory mechanism," he thought. This "guiding thought", as he called it, was initially quite confusing, but Dr. Sutherland could not let the idea go. Throughout his years of practice, with diligent research and study, he gradually developed a revolutionary expansion of the osteopathic concept. Dr. Sutherland's first public announcement of his new cranial ideas were presented in September 1929, before a district meeting of the Minnesota Osteopathic Association, in a paper titled "Bedside Technique" by Blunt Bones Bill.
Dr. Sutherland called his discovery "Osteopathy In The Cranial Field" (OCF), implying that he did not create anything new. He had simply applied osteopathic thinking and principles to the cranium. Many people have heard of "Cranial-Sacral Therapy", but do not know it came from Osteopathy in the Cranial Field. John Upledger D.O., the Osteopathic Physician who coined the term Cranial-Sacral Therapy, learned of this approach from his Osteopathic training. He used the information first taught by Dr. Sutherland and created a teaching protocol to teach non-Osteopaths, but he did not invent or discover anything new. He just came up with a new name.
Many people, including physicians, hold the incorrect concept that the cranial bones fuse together and maintain no motion past childhood. This is patently false, and has been proven so conclusively. One need only know that one means to disarticulate a skull for anatomical study is to fill it with an absorbant substance, like beans, and soak it in water. As the beans expand, the cranial bones will separate at their sutures. If these bones had been fused for most a of a persons life, then they should crack randomly not separate neatly along suture lines. Plus, Here is a link to an MRI study which demonstrates cranial motion over time. Furthermore, microscopic examination of the area between cranial sutures reveals connective tissue bridging the cranial bones. If they were fused and there were no motion, why would connective tissue be there? Not only, do the bones of the skull move, but this motion is connected with regulation of the autonomic nervous system. Here is a link to a wikipedia article for those unfamiliar with the autonomic nervous system. It has been shown that when Osteopaths are palpating Cranial Motion, the rhythm that we feel is synchronous with a well known physiologic phenomena called Traube-Hering-Mayer Waves (Here is the link to the study that established this). Also called Mayer Waves, these are Oscillations in blood pressure that occur in 10 second cycles and represent the ebb and flow of autonomic nervous input to the arteries. This same 10 second cycle is also seen in heart rate variability and Cranial palpation. This evidence proves that we are not making this stuff up, and that what we are feeling is directly tied into physiologic control. This is a powerful tool for treatment because autonomic imbalance is at the source of many disease processes. If your interest is peaked here is a presentation that looks at this matter in even greater detail.
By no means is this a comprehensive review of the evidence for cranial work, but hopefully it is enough to cause a skeptic to think twice and consider the evidence. If you have any questions feel free to email me or give my office a call.
Below you will find a youtube video created by Dr. Andrew Weil in the 1980's focusing on the work of one of the most legendary Cranial Osteopaths, Robert Fulford D.O. Dr. Fulford also happens to be my mentor's greatest influence.