Cranial Treatment.. Really..?!

Cranial Adjusting has been in Chiropractic and Osteopathic written histories for almost a century with Cottam being credited as a pioneer in Chiropractic and Sutherland being credited as a pioneer in Osteopathy. The doing hands-on part of cranial adjusting has been around for a century within Chiropractic. Chiropractors feeling what they do and science is yet to catch up with what is being felt through the hands. The ideas, concepts and principles of how cranial therapy works have been inventive and innovative yet unscientific. Before Nephi Cottam DC (Chiropractor) and according to Sutherland DO (Osteopath), Taoist Monks recorded cranial motion long before the 1920’s.

In 1994 a single case MRI study cranial therapy was performed by two Chiropractors with a Medical Doctor assisting with MRI interpretation(1). The results showed brain changes in line with expected or theoretical brain structural change. Whilst the MRI is only able to show a short term change a change nonetheless is powerful to note as the MRI evidence demonstrates that cranial motion is not a psychological fantasy. And the human skull is able to flex and change in shape, not only on the outside but also on the inside. Quite possibly driven by muscular imbalance and or developmental imbalances in growth.

Receiving cranial care with MRI evidence could ultimately become very expensive and thus not applicable as an objective clinical measure.

Sadly the teaching of cranial techniques is somewhat sporadic at best and like visceral techniques not quality controlled. The evidence presented in the paper below shows that structural changes are possible but do not therefore mean everybody attempting cranial techniques is achieving what they think they are every time… Like medicine in general there are no guarantees!

References:

1. Pick, M, Grusd R and Allen DW (1994) A Preliminary Single Case MRI Investigation into Maxillary Frontal-Parietal Manipulation. JMPT 17 (3) 161-166