Cranial Osteopathy: A Gentle Treatment For Pain

What is Cranial Osteopathy?
Cranial osteopathy (also called cranial therapy or cranio-sacral therapy) is one variety of osteopathic manipulative therapies. It stimulates healing by using gentle hand pressure to manipulate the skeleton and connective tissues, especially the skull and sacrum (the large, triangular bone at the base of the spinal column). Cranial osteopathy is based on the controversial theory that the central nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord, has subtle, rhythmic pulsations that are vital to health and can be detected and modified by a skilled practitioner.

What conditions is cranial osteopathy used for?

• constipation
• irritable bowel syndrome
• seizures
• scoliosis
• migraine headaches
• disturbed sleep cycles
• asthma
• neck pain
• sinus infections
• TMJ syndrome
• Ménière's disease
• ear problems
• children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who have experienced birth trauma or head trauma.

While cranial osteopathy therapy has not been shown scientifically to be a treatment for cancer, it can help patients feel more relaxed by helping to relieve stress and tension.

What should one expect from a visit to a practitioner of cranial osteopathy therapy?

During a typical session, you may be asked first about your history of injuries and the circumstances of your birth, in addition to the usual questions about your symptoms, medical history, and lifestyle habits. As part of the physical exam, the practitioner may move your limbs and feel your spine, rib cage and cranium for areas of restricted motion. Treatment includes gentle hands-on manipulation of the cranial bones and the sacrum (tailbone), as well as other restricted areas of the body. The practitioner may use additional manipulation techniques as well, for example, to relax muscles around the joints and spine. The overall effect of a treatment session can be very calming. Some patients report pleasant tingling sensation throughout their bodies during treatment.

Practitioners of cranial osteopathy use their hands to gently free up restrictions in the movement of cranial bones and associated soft tissues and to stimulate the flow of the cerebro-spinal fluid, which bathes all the surfaces of the brain and the spinal cord.

Practitioners believe that distortions in the natural rhythms of the central nervous system may result from trauma of all sorts including birth trauma, childhood injuries, automobile accidents, even psychological trauma. (For years, mainstream medicine dismissed the idea - put forth in the 1930's by osteopath William Sutherland - that the cranial bones in the adult skull could move.

However, researchers at Michigan State University's College of Osteopathic medicine confirmed Sutherland's theory in the late 1970's by showing cranial bone motion in X-ray films of the skulls of living subjects.)

Are there other therapies that might work well in conjunction with cranial osteopathy therapy?

Cranial osteopathy therapy can work as an adjunct to other medical, dental, osteopathic, and chiropractic treatments. Cranial osteopathy offers a gentle treatment for pain in patients undergoing other kinds of therapy who are too acutely sensitive to tolerate other hands-on approaches.

Dr. Andrew Weil encountered cranial osteopathy when he met Dr. Robert Fulford, an osteopath who relied on manipulation alone for treating a variety of diseases. Dr. Weil has described Dr. Fulford as a skilled practitioner of cranial osteopathy who could detect subtle movements within the central nervous system and its associated structures through gentle palpation of the cranial bones. Dr. Weil continues to recommend cranial osteopathy therapy for many conditions including colic in babies, earaches and hyperactivity in children, for infants who are not sucking well during breast feeding, and following a difficult delivery to make certain the bones and soft tissues of the infant's head are in proper alignment (treatment frees up restrictions in movement and promotes normal functioning of the nervous system, as well as optimal flow of blood and lymph). He also recommends cranial osteopathy for treatment of migraine headaches, disturbed sleep cycles, asthma, neck pain, sinus infections, TMJ syndrome, Ménière's disease and ear problems in adults. For more information about cranial osteopathy, we recommend reading Dr. Fulford's Touch of Life (Pocket Books, 1997).

At Osteoklinika we view the healthy body as a system of structure and physiological function dynamically interacting with each other in an undisturbed manner. When the structure is affected the function of many systems of the body is changed resulting in pain, inflammation and restricted range of motion. Our objective is to find the source of the problem, correct it and allow the body to return to a normal physiological balance. We call this Bio-Structural Integration™. - Andrew Subieta M.Sc. R.M.T., C.L.T.

Osteoklinika Pain Management and Rehabilitation
1750 Steeles Ave, W. Unit 8
Vaughan, Ontario  L4K 2L7
905.660.8810