Here are some references to get you started:
: J Am Osteopath Assoc 2001 Mar;101(3):163-73 Related Articles, Books
Cranial rhythmic impulse related to the Traube-Hering-Mayer oscillation: comparing laser-Doppler flowmetry and palpation.
Nelson KE, Sergueef N, Lipinski CM, Chapman AR, Glonek T.
Department of Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine of Midwestern University, USA.
The primary respiratory mechanism (PRM) as manifested by the cranial rhythmic impulse (CRI), a fundamental concept to cranial osteopathy, and the Traube-Hering-Mayer (THM) oscillation bear a striking resemblance to one another. Because of this, the authors developed a protocol to simultaneously measure both phenomena. Statistical comparisons demonstrated that the CRI is palpably concomitant with the low-frequency fluctuations of the THM oscillation as measured with the Transonic Systems BLF 21 Perfusion Monitor laser-Doppler flowmeter. This opens new potential explanations for the basic theoretical concepts of the physiologic mechanism of the PRM/CRI and cranial therapy. Comparison of the PRM/CRI with current understanding of the physiology of the THM oscillation is therefore warranted. Additionally, the recognition that these phenomena can be simultaneously monitored and recorded creates a new opportunity for further research into what is distinctive about the science and practice of osteopathic medicine.
PMID: 11329812 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Role of cranial bone mobility in cranial compliance.
Heisey SR, Adams T.
Department of Physiology, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing.
Increases in intracranial pressure are normally buffered by the displacement of blood and cerebrospinal fluid from the cranium when there is an increase in intracranial volume (ICV). How much pressure increases with an increase in ICV is expressed in the calculation of cranial compliance (delta ICV/delta P, where delta P is change in pressure) and elastance (delta P/delta ICV). Data reported here indicate that the movement of the cranial bones at their sutures is an additional factor defining total cranial compliance. Using controlled bolus injections of artificial cerebrospinal fluid into a lateral cerebral ventricle in anesthetized cats and a newly developed instrument to quantify cranial bone movement at the midline sagittal suture where the bilateral parietal bones meet, we show that these cranial bones move in association with increases in ICV along with corresponding peak intracranial pressures and changes in intracranial pressure. External restraints to the head restrict these movements and reduce the compliance characteristics of the cranium. We propose that total cranial compliance depends on the mobility of intracranial fluid volumes of blood and cerebrospinal fluid when there is an increase in ICV, but it also varies as a function of cranial compliance attributable to the movement of the cranial bones at their sutures. Our data indicate that although the cranial bones move apart even with small (nominally 0.2 ml) increases in ICV, total cranial compliance depends more on fluid migration from the cranium when ICV increases are less than approximately 3% of total cranial volume. Cranial bone mobility plays a progressively larger role in total cranial compliance with larger ICV increases.
Intraexaminer and interexaminer reliability for palpation of the cranial rhythmic impulse at the head and sacrum.
Moran RW, Gibbons P.
School of Health Sciences, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.
BACKGROUND: A range of health care practitioners use cranial techniques. Palpation of a cranial rhythmic impulse (CRI) is a fundamental clinical skill used in diagnosis and treatment with these techniques. There has been little research establishing the reliability of CRI rate palpation. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to establish the intraexaminer and interexaminer reliability of CRI rate palpation and to investigate the "core-link" hypothesis of craniosacral interaction that is used to explain simultaneous motion at the cranium and sacrum. DESIGN: Within-subjects, repeated-measures design. SUBJECTS: Two registered osteopaths, both with postgraduate training in diagnosis and treatment, using cranial techniques, palpated 11 normal healthy subjects. METHODS: Examiners simultaneously palpated for the CRI at the head and the sacrum of each subject. Examiners indicated the "full flexion" phase of the CRI by activating silent foot switches that were interfaced with a computer. Subject arousal was monitored using heart rate. Examiners were blind to each other's results and could not communicate during data collection. RESULTS: Reliability was estimated from calculation of intraclass correlation coefficients (2,1). Intrarater reliability for examiners at either the head or the sacrum was fair to good, significant intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from +0.52 to +0.73. Interexaminer reliability for simultaneous palpation at the head and the sacrum was poor to nonexistent, ICCs ranging from -0.09 to +0.31. There were significant differences between rates of CRI palpated simultaneously at the head and the sacrum. CONCLUSIONS: The results fail to support the construct validity of the "core-link" hypothesis as it is traditionally held by proponents of craniosacral therapy and osteopathy in the cranial field.
Simultaneous palpation of the craniosacral rate at the head and feet: intrarater and interrater reliability and rate comparisons.
Rogers JS, Witt PL, Gross MT, Hacke JD, Genova PA.
US Air Force Academy Cadet Physical Therapy Clinic, US Air Force Academy, CO 80840, USA.
[email protected]
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The main purpose of this study was to determine the interrater and intrarater reliability of measurements obtained during palpation of the craniosacral rate at the head and feet. Palpated craniosacral rates of head and feet measured simultaneously were also compared. Subjects. Twenty-eight adult subjects and 2 craniosacral examiners participated in the study. METHODS: A within-subjects repeated-measures design was used. A standard cubicle privacy curtain, hung over the subject's waist, was used to prevent the examiners from seeing each other. RESULTS: Interrater intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were .08 at the head and .19 at the feet. Intrarater ICCs ranged from .18 to .30. Craniosacral rates simultaneously palpated at the head and feet were different. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION: The results did not support the theories that underlie craniosacral therapy or claims that craniosacral motion can be palpated reliably.
J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1998 Mar;27(3):213-8 Related Articles, Books
Craniosacral rhythm: reliability and relationships with cardiac and respiratory rates.
Hanten WP, Dawson DD, Iwata M, Seiden M, Whitten FG, Zink T.
Texas Woman's University, Houston 77030, USA.
Craniosacral rhythm (CSR) has long been the subject of debate, both over its existence and its use as a therapeutic tool in evaluation and treatment. Origins of this rhythm are unknown, and palpatory findings lack scientific support. The purpose of this study was to determine the intra- and inter-examiner reliabilities of the palpation of the rate of the CSR and the relationship between the rate of the CSR and the heart or respiratory rates of subjects and examiners. The rates of the CSR of 40 healthy adults were palpated twice by each of two examiners. The heart and respiratory rates of the examiners and the subjects were recorded while the rates of the subjects' CSR were palpated by the examiners. Intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated to determine the intra- and inter-examiner reliabilities of the palpation. Two multiple regression analyses, one for each examiner, were conducted to analyze the relationships between the rate of the CSR and the heart and respiratory rates of the subjects and the examiners. The intraexaminer reliability coefficients were 0.78 for examiner A and 0.83 for examiner B, and the interexaminer reliability coefficient was 0.22. The result of the multiple regression analysis for examiner A was R = 0.46 and adjusted R2 = 0.12 (p = 0.078) and for examiner B was R = 0.63 and adjusted R2 = 0.32 (p = 0.001). The highest bivariate correlation was found between the CSR and the subject's heart rate (r = 0.30) for examiner A and between the CSR and the examiner's heart rate (r = 0.42) for examiner B. The results indicated that a single examiner may be able to palpate the rate of the CSR consistently, if that is what we truly measured. It is possible that the perception of CSR is illusory. The rate of the CSR palpated by two examiners is not consistent. The results of the regression analysis of one examiner offered no validation to those of the other. It appears that a subject's CSR is not related to the heart or respiratory rates of the subject or the examiner.
The cytological implications of primary respiration.
Crisera PN.
[email protected]
Observing the macroscopic complexities of evolved species, the exceptional continuity that occurs among different cells, tissues and organs to respond coherently to the proper set of stimuli as a function of self/species survival is appreciable. Accordingly, it alludes to a central rhythm that resonates throughout the cell; nominated here as primary respiration (PR), which is capable of binding and synchronizing a diversity of physiological processes into a functional biological unity. Phylogenetically, it was conserved as an indispensable element in the makeup of the subkingdom Metazoa, since these species require a high degree of coordination among the different cells that form their body. However, it does not preclude the possibility of a basal rhythm to orchestrate the intricacies of cellular dynamics of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. In all probability, PR emerges within the crucial organelles, with special emphasis on the DNA (5), and propagated and transduced within the infrastructure of the cytoskeleton as wave harmonics (49). Collectively, this equivalent vibration for the subphylum Vertebrata emanates as craniosacral respiration (CSR), though its expression is more elaborate depending on the development of the CNS. Furthermore, the author suggests that the phenomenon of PR or CSR be intimately associated to the basic rest/activity cycle (BRAC), generated by concentrically localized neurons that possess auto-oscillatory properties and assembled into a vital network (39). Historically, during Protochordate-Vertebrate transition, this area circumscribes an archaic region of the brain in which many vital biological rhythms have their source, called hindbrain rhombomeres. Bass and Baker (2) propose that pattern-generating circuits of more recent innovations, such as vocal, electromotor, extensor muscle tonicity, locomotion and the extraocular system, have their origin from the same Hox gene-specified compartments of the embryonic hindbrain (rhombomeres 7 and 8) that produce rhythmically active cardiac and thoracic respiratory circuits. Here, it implies that PR could have been the first essential biological cadence that arose with the earliest form of life, and has undergone a phylogenetic ascent to produce an integrated multirhythmic organism of today. Finally, in its full manifestation, the breathing DNA (1) of the zygote could project itself throughout the cytoskeleton and modify the electromechanical properties of the plasma lamella (26), establishing the primordial axial-voltage gradients for the physiological control of development (53).
