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Leon
Chaitow is a prolific recorder and interpreter of the growing world
of bodywork therapeutics. Four other books of his are current Harcourt
Brace publications: Muscle Energy Techniques, Positional
Release Techniques, Modern Neuromuscular Techniques and
Palpation Skills. It is likely that he has a readership that
embraces several disciplines, not least that of the modern osteopath who
is obliged to demonstrate a portfolio of competencies in order to attain
statutory registration.
The newest work is as timely as any Chaitow has
produced. Cranial manipulation under whatever banner it is practised (sacrocranial
therapy or cranial osteopathy or sacro-occipital technic) is a minor boom
industry. The few who pioneered the subject a century ago and those who
explored it in this country 35 years and more ago (and that includes Chaitow
himself) were at best tolerated and at worst derided for their imaginative
suggestions that something linking the head and sacrum to the whole body
could provide a means of health restoration.
There are certain differences between then and
now, though. Osteopathy and Chiropractic have become legitimate in statutory
terms. Teaching by apprenticeship and tradition is being augmented, even
supplanted, by the academic rigours of university degree education. There
is now an obligation to verify the inspired pronouncements of originators
like Still, Sutherland and deJarnette. Not least, the Primary Respiratory
Mechanism (PRM) theories behind the sacrocranial relationship, like those
of the meridians of acupuncture, are being exploited, in the nicest sense,
as vehicles for therapies other than those of the osteopath, chiropractor
or acupuncturist.
Leon Chaitow has compiled in fine detail the
researched facts and hypotheses of several informed practitioners. Numerous
questions emerge thereby, not least those concerning Sutherland’s
five point composition of the PRM: inherent motility of the brain and
spinal cord, fluctuating cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), motility of intracranial
and spinal membranes, mobility of the bones of the skull and involuntary
sacral motion between the ilia. Which, if any, are the prime movers of
the whole? What is the rhythmic rate of movement of the PRM and how is
it to be distinguished from those of the vascular and respiratory systems
and of other as yet unidentified mechanisms? Cranial bones move at their
sutures; can it be said that the sphenobasilar junction has motion when
Gray’s Anatomy insists it has fused by age 25? In short, how valid
are the propositions of the pioneers and how does it all relate to the
health of the individual?
Hypotheses vary and Chaitow seems to have explored
everything ever written on the subject. He presents his material in readable
fashion interweaving critical research with practical procedural exercises
that emanate from a variety of teachers. Apart from cranial fundamentals
that include the prominent role of the meningeal membranes and that hint
at possible fluid energy transmission the author has a strong bias towards
the role muscles play in the observed phenomena of successful cranial
manipulation.
Experienced practitioners will gain from the
systematised layout of tables, illustrations, arguments, counter-arguments,
references and appendices that make up its 302 pages It is to be hoped
that some of the author’s enthusiasm may inspire aspiring researchers
in a field that is wide open for research.
The average novice may feel overwhelmed by the
huge storehouse of knowledge presented but appetites will doubtless be
whetted to encourage training from appropriate establishments. Cranial
Manipulation Theory and Practice will then be an excellent text book
to go with such training.
About
the Reviewer
Joseph Goodman DO is Head of Department, Theory
and Practice of Osteopathy, College of Osteopaths at Middlesex University;
Chairman, Cranial Osteopathic Association
Cranial Manipulation Theory And Practice:
Osseous and soft tissue approaches by Leon Chaitow DO is available from
Harcourt International. Price £29.50. Tel: 0181 308 5700.
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