Through the misfortune of having back issues and the fortune of having a lovely friend as a practitioner, I discovered osteopathy.
As stated by the British Osteopathic Association, osteopathy is a system of clinical diagnosis and manual treatment, which is particularly concerned with the inter-relationship between the structure of the body and the way in which it functions and is therefore an appropriate form of therapy for many problems affecting the neuro-musculo-skeletal systems. Osteopathy is a way of detecting and treating damaged parts of the body such as muscles, ligaments, nerves and joints.
A visit to the osteopath generally involves the osteopath taking a medical history of the patient, undertaking an analysis of their physical state, through examining their body and watching the patient perform various movements. The osteopath will then usually perform various manipulations on the patient, depending on the particular diagnosis, and many also provide advice regarding diet, posture and work practices if relevant. From my experience of undergoing osteopathic treatment it generally involves primarily manipulation techniques with less massage than physiotherapy, and from what I hear, less cringe-worthy cracking of joints than chiropractic treatment.
One particular form of osteopathy is cranial osteopathy. I was referred to this type of treatment by my friend who practices conventional osteopathy. She thought that as the cranial technique involves more gentle manipulation, that it would be more suitable for my somewhat fragile back. I was already sold on osteopathy, as I had found it more beneficial for my condition than physiotherapy, but the promise of an even better type of treatment piqued my interest.
So trusting the wise, professional judgement of my peer, I decided to try it, and was blown away by the results. Cranial osteopathy to me feels like witchcraft. To say that the manipulation they use is gentle is an over-statement. The movements they make are so subtle that at times, it feels like they aren’t doing anything aside from gently prodding you in the tailbone. But that gentle prodding is amazingly effective, as on emerging from the clinic you can feel how those knots of tension have evaporated, and that your body’s alignment has been restored. It is a very gentle technique but incredibly powerful in its results.
I don’t know how they do it, but I do know it works.
Fresh from an appointment last week for a general re-jig (which by the way rid me of the headaches I’d had for a week and a half previous) I was musing about cranial osteopathy, and thinking that I might introduce the subject to flat white readers that might not be familiar with it.
I idly typed cranial osteopathy into google to see what would come up. I was surprised to learn that cranial osteopathy has not escaped the radar of quackwatch, a site whose purpose is to ‘combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, and fallacies’. This site has done me well in the past, when after reading an enthralling magazine article on ear candles I decided that I needed a good burn-out to cure my mild tinnitus in my left ear. A search of google with the aim of locating a suitable candle wielder in my area, instead yielded a link to quackwatch. After reading a damning account of the procedure on the site, I decided to live with a slight hint of white noise, (for now, anyway).
Quackwatch was enough to put me off the ear candle, so I was intrigued to read why cranial osteopathy had made the hit list.
The Sutherland Society describes cranial osteopathy as follows; “Cranial osteopaths are trained to feel a very subtle, rhythmical shape change that is present in all body tissues. This is called Involuntary Motion or the Cranial Rhythm. The movement is of very small amplitude, therefore it takes practitioners with a very finely developed sense of touch to feel it.”
This rhythm was first described in the early 1900′s by Dr. William G. Sutherland and its existence was apparently confirmed by a series of laboratory tests in the 1960′s and ’70′s.
Tension in the body is said to disrupts the cranial rhythm. The osteopath will compare your rhythm with what they consider ideal. This shows them what stresses and strains your body is currently under, and what tensions it may be carrying due to its past history. These rhythms also provide the osteopath with an insight into the overall condition of your body, for example if it is healthy, or stressed and tired.
Quackwatch states the following; “Practitioners of “cranial osteopathy,” “craniosacral therapy,” “cranial therapy,” and similar methods claim that the skull bones can be manipulated to relieve pain (especially of the jaw joint) and remedy many other ailments. They also claim that a rhythm exists in the flow of the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord and that diseases can be diagnosed by detecting aberrations in this rhythm and corrected by manipulating the skull.”
“The rhythm of the craniosacral system can purportedly be detected in much the same way as the rhythms of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. But unlike those body systems, both evaluation and correction of the craniosacral system can be accomplished through palpation (touch).”
Quackwatch outlines the following regarding its distrust of cranial osteopathy; “The theory underlying craniosacral therapy is erroneous because the cranial bones fuse by the end of adolescence and no research has ever demonstrated that manual manipulation can move the individual bones. Nor do I believe that “the rhythms of the craniosacral system can be felt as clearly as the rhythms of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems,” as is claimed by the Upledger Institute. The brain does pulsate, but this is exclusively related to the cardiovascular system. In a recent study, three physical therapists who examined the same 12 patients diagnosed significantly different “craniosacral rates,” which is the expected outcome of measuring a nonexistent phenomenon.”
However one explanation for the efficacy of the cranial technique is that according to wikipedia, studies have demonstrated the presence of Sharpey’s fibres between adjacent bones of the skull, which form the sutural margins, and it is known that these particular fibres form only at areas where tissue movement occurs. It is accepted by most modern osteopaths working within the cranial field, that the large joint in the skull base known as spheno-basilar symphysis turns to bone and therefore the original principles of cranial osteopathy have evolved as our knowledge of the human body has increased, Cranial osteopathic teaching refers to movement remaining within the thin bone of the sutures of the skull, and that flexibility within living bone occurs, in contrast to dried specimen bones.
How this mechanism is related to health and disease has not been scientifically established. Some osteopaths believe that healing dysfunctional cranial rhythmic impulses enhances cerebral spinal fluid flow to peripheral nerves, thereby enhancing metabolic outflow and nutrition inflow.
I must confess that had I been alerted to the slightly dubious sounding and flaky description of cranial osteopathy then I think I might have been sufficiently sceptical to not want to throw my hard-earned cash at an appointment…
However, fortunately that was not the case, I merely stumbled on this information at a later date.
I’m not sure what the moral of this story is, (perhaps ignore what you read on quackwatch and give it a go? Or that a lack of scientific evidence to support a phenomena doesn’t equal evidence to the contrary?) all I know is that cranial osteopathy has worked for me and I cannot recommend it enough.
P.S I didn’t get a referral fee for this but if anyone wants to be hooked up with a super cranial osteopath in Auckland let me know…
Your cousin Rosie was born with quite a misshapen head and her mother credits cranial osteopathy as a baby for correcting this problem.
Enjoyed your article and glad to hear that treatment sorted out your headaches.