What is Cranial Osteopathy?
Dr W G Sutherland
The term Cranial Osteopathy is a misnomer; it is a name we have inherited. It is a development of the principles of osteopathy first conceived by Dr Still, by one of his first students, WG Sutherland. Sutherland realised that bone is a flexible, plastic material that deforms under load, as steel does in buildings, bridges and ships. In fact, its flexibility is part of its strength. Sutherland found that the tiny joints between the bones of the head, the sutures, allow even a little more flexibility to this living structure. Hence Sutherland started to explore to include the head in his treatment. From this he developed a very acute sense of palpation. (See What is so special about osteopathy?)
Sutherland came to the conclusion that if the body is a self-healing, self-regulating and self-adjusting organism, as Still had said, any changes to its state that the body makes, can only be towards health. The body cannot, of itself, make a change towards disease. Therefore the fundamental principle of Sutherland’s concept of cranial osteopathy is to allow the body to make its own changes from within, what the body wants to do, and not for the practitioner to impose a prescription of treatment from outside. For this, the osteopath has to develop a highly acute sense of palpation, in order to ‘read’ what the body requires and to work with the body, without imposing from outside. This principle applies throughout the body, not just to the head.
We are known at this practice as cranial osteopaths. We use the same fundamental osteopathic principles to treat the whole body. In treatment, the patient's tissues are carefully supported in such a way as to allow them to make their own changes from within, rather than the application of a treatment prescribed by the osteopath. We work with the body to enable it to make the changes it wants to make naturally, towards health. We do not impose. Treatment is extremely gentle. As we work with the body tissues, some patients may be unaware what is happening and sometimes can even fall asleep.
The cranial concept can be used to identify and deal with immediate acute symptoms as well as long-standing problems. The approach can identify the original cause of a problem; sometimes it may be found to be related to an injury which occurred many years ago. It can be used to treat all the cases listed in the section on What can an osteopath treat? but some of them can be treated only this way.