drfeely.com/app/(pages)/articles/(content)/cranial-osteopathy/page.tsx
2023-10-20 14:25:25 -05:00

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import Article from "@/components/Article";
import { Metadata } from "next";
export const metadata: Metadata = {
title: "Article - Cranial Osteopathy | Dr. Feely",
authors: [{ name: "Richard A. Feely, D.O., FAAO, FCA, FAAMA" }],
description: `Cranial osteopathy, also known as osteopathy in the cranial
field, was developed as a natural extension of Dr. Andrew Taylor Still's – the
founder of the osteopathic profession – philosophical and therapeutic
approaches to health through manipulation. William Gardner Sutherland D.O. was
the founder of cranial osteopathy, utilizing the body's inherent forces to
overcome membranous articular restrictions principally in the head and spine
with secondary effects throughout the rest of the body.`,
};
const ArticleCranialOsteopathy = () => {
return (
<Article
title="Cranial Osteopathy"
author="Richard A. Feely, D.O., FAAO, FCA, FAAMA"
>
<p>
Cranial osteopathy, also known as osteopathy in the cranial field, was
developed as a natural extension of Dr. Andrew Taylor Still's &ndash;
the founder of the osteopathic profession &ndash; philosophical and
therapeutic approaches to health through manipulation. William Gardner
Sutherland D.O. was the founder of cranial osteopathy, utilizing the
body's inherent forces to overcome membranous articular restrictions
principally in the head and spine with secondary effects throughout the
rest of the body.
</p>
<p>
A cranial osteopath is an osteopathic physician and surgeon in the
United States. In other countries, the osteopathic physician has a
limited license. He or she diagnoses the patient holistically, body,
mind and spirit with particular detail to the musculoskeletal system and
the cranial sacral mechanism in particular. The cranial sacral mechanism
is a dynamic force within the living human body. It is the Qi or energy
of the central nervous system and is reflected throughout the rest of
the body.
</p>
<p>
Cranial osteopathy is a sub-specialty within osteopathic manipulative
medicine. It has a unique defined body of knowledge, educational
requirements and specific diagnostic treatment procedures that are part
and parcel of a complete osteopathic manipulative medicine specialist
practice. Diligent study of anatomy, physiology and pathology is
required to become a cranial osteopath. True system of preventive
medicine, treating the whole person, not just the disease.
</p>
<p>
Osteopathic medical schools teach courses in all branches of medicine
and surgery in the United States and various manipulative techniques. It
takes four years of training in osteopathic medical schools in the
United States. Most D.O.'s seek additional training in cranial
osteopathy after graduation. Most osteopathic medical schools in the
United States involve two hundred to three hundred hours of osteopathic
manipulative diagnostic and treatment education
</p>
<h2>The Cranial Academy</h2>
<p>
The professional organization representing D.O.'s who practice cranial
osteopathy, The Cranial Academy, requires a 40 hours basic course just
for membership and after that most osteopathic physicians have an
additional 100 to 200 hours of training in osteopathic manipulative
medicine related to the cranial field. In addition, The Cranial Academy
offers competency testing and fellowship certification for D.O's
receiving national prominence.
</p>
<p>
Cranial osteopaths were originally labeled as quacks for identifying
that the bones of the skull were slightly mobile and that this mobility
allowed for membranous articular strains that could cause dysfunction
and pain. Today, scientist and many M.D's through the use of high-tech
diagnostic equipment agree that there is a motion present in the
cranium.
</p>
<p>
There are many other therapies and therapist out there that claim to be
cranial osteopaths. But only physicians (M.D's. D.O.'s and dentists) can
be trained by The Cranial Academy, the national organization recognized
by the American Academy of Osteopathy and the American Osteopathic
Association (AOA) as the professional organization in this field.
</p>
<p>
Cranial osteopathy cannot be effectively learned via the Internet or
reading books. It is a psychomotor skill be best taught with hands on
guidance. It must be practiced on living human heads with a skilled
trained practitioners providing guidance, experience, knowledge, skill
and information to the student.
</p>
<h2>The Rhythmic Impulse</h2>
<p>
The body has a self healing mechanisms. One of these mechanisms is the
third pulse of the body that emanates from the central nervous system.
This inherent motility of the brain and spinal cord occurs with the
initial inspiration of the breath of life at birth. This primary
respiratory mechanism called the cranial rhythmic impulse which is
associated with a very slight coiling and uncoiling of the spinal cord
and the central nervous system. The bones of the head and the central
nervous system become slightly wider and shorter from front to back in
the inspiration or flexion phase of the sphenobasilar synchondrosis. In
the exhalation phase, the primary phase, the primary respiratory
mechanism moves in just opposite direction. The head and central nervous
system becomes longer and slightly wider. This amount of movement is in
the millimeter range. One measurement placed it within hundredths of an
inch. But this varies according to where one measures the motion, at
which suture.
</p>
<p>
The fluctuation of the cerebral spinal fluid occurs with the motion of
the billions of glial cells in the central nervous system and this
movement occurs in the relatively closed container of the cranium. As
the brain and spinal cord change shape and go through the cycle of
inhalation and exhalation/flexion and extension, the cerebral spinal
fluid fluctuates back and forth within the spaces of the brain and
spinal cord. This helps push the cerebral spinal fluid through the small
channels around the nerved down the spinal cord and exiting the central
nervous system into the peripheral nervous system. The motion of the
membranes of the head called the dura mater that surround the bones and
house the vessels in the skull. The dura membranes appear as the three
attached sickle shaped membranes forming a tripod to support the brain
and skull.
</p>
<p>
They are called the falx cerebri and the tentorum cerebelli with a small
slip dividing the left and right half of the cerebellum. They limit and
control the slight motion of the bones of the head effecting the whole
fasat mechanism involving the cranium to the sacrum. The dura membranes
are firmly attached at the foramen magnum, second and third cervical
vertebra and the sacral segment. The 26 bones of the head are in slight
rhythmic motion along with the cerebral spinal fluid, the central
nervous system, the dural membranes and the sacrum. These cranial bones
are architecturally designed to fit together with various grooves and
gear-like articulation with each other. The sutures are comprised on
connective tissues, membranes and blood vessels with elastic tissue
identified microscopically. Since the dura is firmly attached at the
base of the skull and the sacrum, motion of the cranial mechanism is
transmitted into the sacrum. The cranium and the sacrum work together in
a flexion and extension phases. This constant rhythmic motion moves the
sacrum into nutation and antinutation.
</p>
</Article>
);
};
export default ArticleCranialOsteopathy;