Craniosacral Therapy for Dogs? Where's the Anatomic Justification?

Описание: Osteopathic physician and veterinarian, Dr. Narda Robinson, questions the premise of teaching and practicing craniosacral therapy in dogs. Craniosacral work originated in osteopathic medicine in the mid-1900s. It describes an inherent, rhythmic motility in the central nervous system and posits that the cranial bones reflect that movement in subtle ways, detectable through the practitioner's hands. However, for the cranial bones to move, even slightly, they can't be fused. In the human, they mostly are not fused, i.e., ossified. In many non-human species, including the dog and horse, many appear to be.

Furthermore, human sutures show interdigitations, i..e, finger-like projections that would support mobility. In contrast, examination of the canine and equine skulls reveals much straighter suture lines that often disappear following ossification.

As such, if the structural premise of craniosacral therapy is lacking, we need to question whether craniosacral work makes sense in non-human animals. Osteopathic medicine holds that structure and function are linked inextricably. Making claims that cranial bones move like tectonic plates when their borders are "stuck" together violates that key principle.

Or, perhaps the craniosacral mechanism in non-human species expresses itself differently. If so, we need to have a species-specific adaptation and not extrapolate human techniques across species just because it's convenient and there are people that will take classes to learn it as if it was similar for all creatures.

Add to that the presence of an interparietal bone in the dog that sits on the center of the skull between the parietal bones. How can there be an equivalent craniosacral rhythm when a central cranial bone spans the midline and would therefore fix / immobilize that suture?

For more on this topic, here's an article Dr. Robinson wrote for Veterinary Practice News in 2009: https://www.veterinarypracticenews.co...

This video appeared initially in the program, Myofascial Relationships of Acupuncture Points in the Dog. For more on this and other courses exploring the scientific and anatomical basis of integrative medicine in dogs, visit CuraCore.org.