Cranial osteopathy

Cranial Osteopathy. Some, but not all, practitioners believe that the skull bones can also be manipulated. Cranial osteopathy is a theory based on the premise that the bones of the skull permit small increments of movement. This application, which became popular for treating babies and children, is said to be based on a rhythm that can be felt by practitioners whose sense of touch is highly developed. Some osteopaths believe that improving the cranial rhythmic movement helps increase the flow of the cerebral spinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. This increase in flow can then raise metabolic outflow and nutrition inflow. 

Craniosacral therapy and cranial osteopathy are two separate practices with different training backgrounds. Although the two are based on similar principles, craniosacral therapists are not doctors but rather an unlicensed group of individuals who perform such therapies. Cranial osteopaths, however, are fully licensed doctors of osteopathic medicine. They have graduated from a medical school and passed medical boards, so they are significantly more qualified than a craniosacral therapist. 

Liem, Torsten. Cranial Osteopathy A Practical Textbook. Seattle Eastland Press, 2009. Concentrates on the practice of cranial osteopathy, describes how it is done. 

William Gamer Sutherland was another student of Still. When the grooves in the suture of a temporal bone caught his eye, he was led to believe that the cranial bones mnst be capable of motion. He likened them to the "gills of a fish." He thns began the stody of cranial osteopathy and spent many years developing its theories and techniqnes, nsed today as a specialized form of osteopathy. 

Cranial osteopathy is a form of fascial release that attempts to balance forces of the five components, as proposed by William Gamer Sutherland. 

The ability to diagnose and treat dysfunctions related to cranial osteopathy and the primary respiratory mechanism (PRM) requires a solid knowledge of the anatomy of the cranium and the central nervous system, cerebral and spinal. 

Although there should be some concern in performing cranial osteopathy in patients with intracranial bleeding, the extreme nature of this situation relatively lessened the contraindications. The bleeding was confined to a closed space and there was a tamponading process in effect "The decrease in blood pressure was not caused by the blood loss but was related to the cardiac arrhythmia. The compression of the brain parenchyma was responsible for the hyperpyrexia. Insufficient time and the suddenness in the increase in his temperature precluded the likelihood of an infectious cause. 

Because the temporal bone is intimately involved in most TMJ cases, it must be evaluated and treated for any motion restriction found (see Section X, Cranial Osteopathy). Because the motion of the sacrum is closely related to motion of the cranium, evaluation and treatment of the sacrum may provide important help as well. 

The patient was treated for her somatic dysfunctions on the first visit with a combination of techniques including, muscle energy, facilitated positional release, high-velocity low-amplitude (HVLA), and cranial osteopathy. In addition, ventral visceral techniques were used. The left hemi-diaphragm was discovered to be restricted as well and a diaphragmatic release was used. Begiiming in the left lower quadrant, the physician scooped the abdomen toward the umbilicus and held until the structures released. This was directed at supporting the mesentery and the sig-... 

It is important to differentiate between side effects and complications. For example, it is common for patients to experience some soreness after techniques such as counterstrain. This is not a complication, but a side effect of placing the patient in a position that stretches one group of muscles while shortening others. Cranial osteopathy may cause a sense of lethargy or fatigue in some cases, but this is not a complication, rather it is a side effect. 

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