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Cranial Osteopathy Information

Health Articles | Health Products | Therapies | Cranial Osteopathy

What Is Cranial Osteopathy? An Interview With Bill Ferguson by Jane Thurnell-Read

 

Bill Ferguson is an osteopath with a busy practice in Kent, England. He does a lot of cranial osteopathy and trained with John Upledger, so he’s a good person to tell me more about this therapy.

What is cranial osteopathy?

“The word ‘cranial’ is a bit misleading, as people think cranial osteopathy is only to do with the head, but it’s called this because of its origins.

“Cranial osteopathy was developed by an American osteopath, Dr William G Sutherland. While he was a student osteopath he became fascinated by a disarticulated skull in a display cabinet that he passed on the way to his osteopathy lectures. A disarticulated skull is where the bones are separated, but they are displayed in such a way that the shape of the skull can be seen – it looks a bit like an exploding skull. Sutherland was struck by the shape of the temporal bones – they’re the bones that the ears come through. They reminded him of the gills of a fish, and he wondered if they allowed for movement. This was a very radical idea at the time.

“He started experimenting on himself and made a modified helmet that allowed him to put pressure on the cranial bones. He would wear the helmet and press his head between two surfaces to create a restriction in the cranial bones. He became convinced that a little movement was possible. He started keeping records of what symptoms he got with which bone constriction: migraines, mood changes, personality changes – he even went blind for a couple of days. Fortunately he developed techniques for putting them right again.

“He started applying these techniques with his patients, sometimes with almost miraculous results. He also worked with babies - he thought about the twisting and compression that happens at birth, and though we are designed to withstand that, sometimes things can go wrong – he talked about straightening ‘little twigs’ before they grew into bent trees.

“He started teaching his techniques in the early 1900’s, but osteopaths were looking to be accepted by the medical establishment, and his work was seen as a bit weird, so it almost went underground for a while. Then once the osteopaths became accepted, cranial work become more open again.

“Although originally the focus was on the bones of the skull, it soon became obvious that other parts of the body were involved, in particular the sacrum. The sacrum is the bone that joins the spine to the pelvis. If the pelvis is twisted, tilted or unbalanced it will have an effect through the sacrum and its attachments all the way up the spine and into the base of the cranium.

“In the 1960’s John Upledger, a medical surgeon, began to study cranial movement at the University of Michigan (USA). He had become interested in the possibility when he had assisted at an operation. The neurologist in charge was removing calcium plaques from the dura mater (the flexible tissue surrounding the spinal cord). Upledger was asked by the neurologist to hold the dura mater still while the calcium deposits were removed, but found he was unable to do this. He became convinced that the dura mater was moving of its own accord. His studies led him to recognise the importance of the cranial sacral rhythm – when the cranium expands, the sacrum and coccyx (tail bone) move too. Upledger also took into account the emotional experience of the person. A simple analogy is that if you were hit on the head by a hammer because it fell accidentally from a great height, you would probably recover quicker than if you had been hit with a hammer deliberately, even though the physical injuries were exactly the same.

“There isn’t any convincing model for cranial osteopathy, even though we know it works. Personally I feel we are working with electromagnetic fields in the body – I often feel heat as I work, and sometimes tingling.”

Who can benefit from it?

“Cranial osteopathy is a gentle way of working so it’s suitable for everyone including delicate people such as the elderly and babies. Babies who have experienced forceps delivery, a long labour or caesarean birth often need cranial work. Those that get colic, won’t settle, seem unhappy or cry a lot are likely to benefit too. Midwives are now recommending some new mothers to bring their babies for a check up shortly after the birth – sometimes nothing needs doing. It would be great if every baby was screened within days of being born.

“People with migraine, sinus problems or head traumas are also likely to benefit from cranial work.”

What happens in a typical session?

“When someone comes to see me I lay them on an air mattress on top of a normal osteopathic couch. Usually we put a pillow under their knees and may be another one for their head, so they are very comfortable. They don’t have to remove any clothes, apart from their shoes.

“I put my hands on their feet. This is a good place to start because they don’t feel threatened, and I can feel the cranial rhythm coming through. I look for anything distorting it. I compare the two sides of the body and can feel any pelvic distortion. I explain to people that it’s a bit like putting a fine tablecloth on a smooth table and then closing the eyes. If someone else puts a salt pot on the table, you can pull one corner of the tablecloth and sense where the salt pot is. With experience you could learn to sense where several different objects were and the size of them. It’s a bit like that.

“Then I move in closer to the energy disturbance – the energy cyst. Often the client will tell me that they experience symptoms in that place, or something has happened there in the past – old surgery or traumatic events.

“I always ask the person if they want the energy cyst removed – usually they do, but sometimes the trauma is too fresh and they don’t want to deal with it – say, a recent bereavement could be too raw, and they want it left for the time being.

“The treatment is to connect with the energy cyst by putting my hands there - I put my hands above and below, or on either sides of, the cyst. I go with the pull, following it. If the energy cyst tries to push back, I resist – eventually it goes somewhere else, and I start to follow it again. It’s a bit like an ill-fitting door, where the key doesn’t turn properly. What I’m doing is realigning the door so that the key can turn properly. Given half a chance the body will fix itself – it just needs a little help.

“When the energy cyst is dispersed, I feel something softening, giving. The person will often breathe deeply or give a big sigh or the body will jerk suddenly. Sometimes the person will make a comment.

“I like treating sceptics – often I get them to look at themselves in a mirror afterwards – they’ll see skin colour changes, their eyes will be brighter and their faces more relaxed – I like to see their surprise.”

How often is cranial osteopathy needed?

“Acute cases usually need 2-3 sessions, and then don’t need to come again unless they hurt themselves.

But some people see that it can lead to personal development – after 4 –6 treatments they’re looking at life in a different way; they feel they want to head off in a different direction. I’ve had some clients who’ve made really radical changes to their lives. These people come two-weekly, then monthly for a while, until they’re ready to stop.”

How can a good cranial osteopath be found?

“ Of course, word of mouth, asking around is best. You can ring local osteopaths and find out who does cranial work. Talk to them and see if you feel confident in them. Ask them if they treat the thing you have wrong with you.”

“Other practitioners called craniosacral therapists also do this sort of work, although they don’t usually have the osteopathic background”

Click here to email Bill, and here for his web site. Find a cranial osteopath.