Cranial Osteopathy
Subtle, gentle work with the body's inherent rhythms.
Cranial osteopathy was developed by William Garner Sutherland, D.O. in 1939, and remains one of the most gentle expressions of osteopathic care.
What is cranial osteopathy?
As a student at the American School of Osteopathy in the late 1890s, Sutherland studied a disarticulated skull and was struck by the way the temporal bones appeared — in his words — “beveled like the gills of a fish,” as though designed for motion. After decades of study he tested his ideas on himself and his patients, with remarkable results.
Cranial osteopathy rests on the observation that there is a small but important motion between all of the components of the skull. Sutherland described an underlying rhythm he called “Primary Respiration” — a movement he considered even more fundamental than breathing — which influences the paired bones of the cranium and the membranes of tension throughout the nervous system.
The fluids of the body, including the cerebrospinal and interstitial fluids, respond to this primary respiratory cycle. Practitioners regard this rhythmic movement of the body's fluids as vitally important to the expression of health.
Trauma and the conditions it can affect
The forces of birth can compress an infant's skull, which may contribute to colic, difficulty swallowing, chronic ear infections and developmental delays. In children and adults alike, restriction in the cranial mechanism is also associated with back problems, headaches, digestive issues, joint pain, menstrual disorders and sinusitis.