Cranial Osteopathy: Obscurantism and Enlightenment

Abstract

The application of cranial osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) is always controversial in the literature. Primary respiration related to the movement of spheno-basilar synchondrosis in the adult goes against the knowledge of complete ossification that occurs at this articulation after the pubertal phase. The idea that the operator's hands can communicate with the meninges is difficult to accept. The anatomy shows us that the fascial system involves the meninges and that from the microcellular point of view there are no layers that divide one tissue from another. The backing of new sciences, such as quantum physics, suggest that cranial palpation allows the osteopath to come into contact with the meninges. Recent scientific evidence shows that meningeal afferents can affect extracranial areas and that the pericranial musculature itself is able to influence these afferents. The article highlights some reflections in support of cranial osteopathy, based on scientific information that could help the osteopath to improve clinical work.

Keywords: cranio; fascia; neurophysiology; osteopathic; quantum physics.

Figure 1. The figure illustrates the synchondrosis articulation between the occipital bone and the sphenoid bone, with a view of the base of the skull. The red arrow indicates the synchondrosis articulation; the yellow arrow indicates the basiocciput; the blue arrow indicates the body of the sphenoid.

Figure 2. The figure illustrates the occipitoparietal sutures. The red arrow shows the suture between the parietal bones; the blue arrows show the occipitoparietal sutures.

Figure 3. The figure shows a model of the skull with red lines drawn above the frontal bone and the parietal bone. The figure demonstrates the presence of trigeminal dural nerve endings external to the skull, whose terminations cross the sutures and innervate the myofascial system of the skull.