While studying at the American School of Osteopathy, William Garner Sutherland noticed that the interfaces between the cranial bones were beveled, like the gills of a fish—indicating that they were moved by a respiratory mechanism. Dr. Sutherland spent the next 30 years trying to disprove his theory. What he discovered was a level of physiologic function within living human beings, which he called the primary respiratory mechanism (PRM). Proper function of PRM is fundamental in the physiology of growth, development, and healing.

Dr. Sutherland introduced his cranial concept to the osteopathic profession in 1929. He described different aspects of the PRM, including the motility of the neural tube, the mobility of the cranial membranes and bones, and a core link between the cranium and sacrum that coordinated their motion. He identified the fluctuation of the cerebrospinal fluid as the first and most fundamental principle of this mechanism. Within it, he had found a potency, an invisible fluid within the fluid that had intelligence.

Dr. Sutherland observed that when the cranial sacral field was brought to a short rhythmic period of fluctuation, a stillness was revealed at the center of the tide, and a transmutative process unfolded in which every cell in the body was nourished. Today, this practice is called osteopathy in the cranial field (OCF).

Learn more about OCF:

The Osteopathic Cranial Academy – cranialacadamy.org
The Sutherland Cranial Teaching Foundation – sctf.com
The Biodynamics of Osteopathy in the Cranial Field – jamesjealous.com
Intelinea – interlinea.org
Eric Dolgin, D.O. – osteohome.com
Mark Rosen, D.O. – osteodoc.com