OCF was developed as an extension to the osteopathic approach. The cranial concept, first put forth by W. G. Sutherland, DO and originally alluded to by A.T. Still, MD, involves the application of Dr. Still's principles of Osteopathy to the head (cranium) and to the tailbone (sacrum). It is based on The Five Components of the Primary Respiratory Mechanism.
The "cranial osteopath" is not preferential to the cranium or the sacrum. Instead he or she includes these areas in an overall evaluation and treatment plan, considering the whole body as one dynamic, integrated unit of function.
The practice of Cranial Osteopathy requires diligent study in applied anatomy, physiology, embryology, and pathology. Some osteopathic schools teach courses of study to their students, though most DOs seek training after they have graduated. It takes hundreds of hours of study and training to understand this field and a minimum of 5 years of training to be certified. Course are taught to qualified individuals only: DOs, MDs, and DMDs. This is necessary due to the extensive medical background needed to understand and apply these concepts. The instruction absolutely requires a minimum of one highly skilled instructor to every 4 students, in order to give proper "hands on" training.
Cranial Osteopaths were originally labeled "quacks" for identifying bones in the skull as being slightly "mobile" and the structures within as treatable. Today, scientists and many MDs, with the benefit of high tech diagnostic equipment, not only concur that cranial motion exists but that it is central to the function of the body.
There are many forms of treatment and therapy that claim to do the same thing as cranial osteopathy, but none can approach it. It is not possible to get the extensive training and close supervision needed to understand this approach to medicine any other way than through an osteopathic education. No other system of manual medicine requires practitioners to apply such detailed clinical knowledge with such a unique perspective. The study is rigorous but the rewards of this are in the results, with profound changes not possible any other way.
