March 23 – 2007
Questions and comments for this issue:

+ Postnatal depression.
+ Trigeminal neuralgia.
+ Bipolar disorder.

Hello,
Just let me put my machete down for a minute so
I can tell you about a new study on healing and
men.
That’s right I said men, manly men.
Are you listening to me Pilgrim?

‘Males typically defined as masculine – strong,
capable of endurance and tough – were seen to have
an improved recovery rate,’ says Professor Glen
Good of the University of Missouri-Columbia.

‘It has long been assumed that men are not as
concerned and don’t take as good of care of their
health, but what we’re seeing here is that the
same ideas that led to their injuries may actually
encourage their recovery.’

So that’s it for me.  Out with the pink loafers
and the angora sweaters and in with the DKNY
combat fatigues and the Gucci backpacks.  It’s
rugged hard living for me from now on.
That’s right I’m drinking tap water and hiking
to the coffee shop.

So let’s saddle up and have a look see at the mailbag.

***QUESTION***

Dear John,
I really enjoy your newsletters.  I have been
getting them for quite a while now but have never
asked you anything before, so here goes.

A woman called me the other day to ask if cranio
could help with postnatal depression.  I said yes
and set up an appointment to see her next week.

I have never treated postnatal depression before
so I read up on it.  Nothing is jumping out as a
possible cranio sacral link.  I will ‘treat what I
find’ when I see her but was just wondered if you
had any experience of it.

Thanking you in advance.

JL
London.

PS. I downloaded your book and it is excellent.
Should be a bestseller.

MY COMMENTS:

Thank you for the kind words.
I have found that postnatal depression is a
condition that responds really well to cranio
sacral.

The root cause is often as a result of the
birth process.  The main causes being one or a
combination of the following – Labor, forceps,
ventouse, caesarean section and epidural.

The birth process can leave the mother’s pelvic
floor full of restrictions.  This in turn
pulls the dural tube inferiorly which in turn
translates into the intracranial membranes and
affects the sphenoid which in turn leads to
depression.

I have seen this pattern in 95% of the women I
have treated for postnatal depression.

It usually resolves pretty quickly.  6 or 7
weeks.  The initial treatments focus on getting
the pelvic floor to come into harmony and release.
Then once that happens it’s a matter of following
that work up the dural tube into the head until
the sphenoid settles.

I have treated women who have suffered with
postnatal depression for up to 10 years.  After
that length of time they are nearly always on
medication and their second or third
psychologist/counsellor.

It is fantastic and at the same time sad that
it takes so little to get rid of the symptoms and
how much heartache that could be avoided if they
had treatment earlier.

***QUESTION***

Dear John,
I am a Cranio Sacral Therapist. I studied with The
Upledger Institute and have been a Therapist for
nearly 2years. I truly am amazed at what this
therapy can achieve.  The reason I am writing to
you is because I have recently been introduced to
Trigeminal Neuralgia which I had never heard of
until now. I just wanted to inquire when you treat
this problem what areas do you treat for success.
I would appreciate any feed back on this you may
give me.
Thank you so very much.
H.I.
Australia.

MY COMMENTS:

To get an understanding of trigeminal neuralgia
you need to study the structure of the trigeminal
nerve.
I’ll run through it briefly here.

The Trigeminal nerve is the largest in diameter
of the cranial nerves.  It is predominantly a
sensory nerve receiving sensory input from the
face and scalp.  It also provides some motor
supply to the mylohyoid and the anterior belly of
the digastric.

The two trigeminal nerves leave the pons and
travel anteriorly for about two centimetres under
the tentorium.  The trigeminal then forms a
ganglion out of which it branches into the 3
divisions.

OPHTHALMIC DIVISION
The ophthalmic division receives sensation from
the eye balls, the lacrimal glands and the skin of
the forehead, eyelid and nose.  It enters the
orbit through the superior orbital fissure.

Just before it enters the superior orbital
fissure, it sends some sensory fibres to the
tentorium.  That’s why pain behind the eyes can be
an indication of tentorial tension.

MAXILLARY DIVISION
This division is entirely sensory and receives
sensation from the skin of the middle portion of
the face, lower eye lid, side of the nose, upper
lip, roof of the mouth, gums and teeth.
The Maxillary branch exits the cranium through
the foramen rotundum which is formed in the
sphenoid.

MANDIBULAR DIVISION
This is the largest of the three branches of
the trigeminal.
It receives sensation from the lower lip, lower
face, inner cheek, tongue, lower teeth and gums
and the temporomandibular joint.
It also has a motor aspect supplying the
temporalis, the masseter, pterygoid, mylohyoid and
the anterior digastric.
It exits the cranium through the foramen ovale
which is also located in the sphenoid.

So that is the rough geography.
If you are treating someone with trigeminal
neuralgia trace the pathway of the trigeminal
nerve with your intention.

Pay particular attention to the areas of
vulnerability which are for the ophthalmic
division,

• the superior orbital fissure.

For the maxillary division,

• the foramen rotundum,
• the maxilla,
• palatine,
• sphenoid
• and zygomae.

And for the mandibular branch,
the foramen ovale,

• the TMJ area.

***QUESTION***

Hi John

It is a long time since I have written to you, but
thanks for all the newsletters – I look forward to
receiving them.

I want to ask your help today. I have some friends
in Cape Town who have a son approx 40 years old
who has suffered from Bi Polar since he was about
15 yrs old.

They have tried every possible treatment, but have
had no success. I would like to advise them about
the condition and ‘Cranio’ and then to advise them
to seek help CranioSacrally

Please advise ASAP

Kind regards

John Rosen

Johannesburg SA

MY COMMENTS:

I treated a woman before I left Brisbane who
had Bipolar for thirty five years.  She had been
institutionalised a couple of times and had been
given shock treatment at the start of the 90′s and
again in 2000.

When she came to see me she was in the process
of weening herself off her medication.  The
pattern of her symptoms was two months of feeling
very high followed by two moths of feeling very
low and so on.  When she came to see me she was in
a low.

Taking her case history was very intense
because she was obviously in a lot of emotional
pain and couldn’t stop crying.  We got through it
and she lay on the table and I assessed her.

It turned out that the root cause of her
symptoms was – physical. Her sphenoid was
restricted.

In the course of taking her case history it had
come out that she was a forceps delivery.  As you
know, the sphenoid isn’t ossified when you are a
new born.  This woman’s right greater wing was
torsioned in relation to the body of the sphenoid.
The right greater wing was also side bending in
relation to the body, meaning the right wing was
much more anterior than the left wing when the
sphenoid was in neutral.

It always feels to me that the patterns of
restriction in the sphenoid act as indicators of
the deeper restrictions in the membranes.  Bone
doesn’t move on it’s own.  Trauma is nearly always
held most strongly in the membranes.

The other thing I’ve found with depression and
the sphenoid is that it’s not the sphenoid that
brings on depression but rather the effect the
pattern of restriction has on the pituitary gland
which is sitting atop the sphenoid in the sellae
turcica.  Particularly as the infundibulum of the
pituitary perforates the diaphragma sellae.

The restriction pattern in this woman’s
sphenoid was like this.  Deep patterns of
restriction held in the tent and surrounding
membranes since birth.  Her pituitary was also
under pressure at its infundibulum.

She saw me for six treatments at the end of
which she was neutral.  Not high, not low.  She
couldn’t remember ever feeling like that for more
than a day or so when she was in transition from
high to low or visa versa.

I was in email contact with her about two
months later and she was still symptom free.

35 years of symptoms sorted out in six weeks.
Who’s glad they’re a cranio sacral therapist!
Hands in the air! Come on, you at the back, hands
in the air!

Not all people with bipolar will respond as
well as this woman.  Not all bipolar is caused by
restrictions in the cranio sacral system.  I would
encourage your friends to get their son assessed
by a good cranio sacral therapist. It will all
help.

So that’s it for this issue.

Cheerio for now John.

Till the next time.

Your Mate,

John D.

+ Why doesn’t C2 supply the superior cervical ganglion? – November 05

Hello John,
I am having a lot of trouble getting a visual, 3-D
sense, of the sympathetic chain.  Particularly
nerve supply.  For example, why isn’t the superior
cervical ganglion supplied by C1 or 2?

Any help would be appreciated.

M.L.
Sydney.

>>>MY COMMENTS:

The most helpful thing you can do if you are
having trouble getting, as you say, a 3-D, sense
of some part of anatomy is to make a 3-D model of
it.  Make your model out of anything you like.
You don’t have to be good at crafts and it doesn’t
have to look pretty.  You will learn a lot from
putting the pieces together.

So while you go off to collect egg boxes and
pipe cleaners, here’s something I prepared
earlier.

Think of the sympathetic division of the
autonomic nervous system like two highways, one on
either side of a long suburb called ‘Spinal cord
T1 – L2′.

Nerves impulses leave the suburb and go onto
the highway via ‘On’ ramps and exit the highway
via ‘Off’ ramps.

‘On’ ramps are called White communicantes.
‘Off’ ramps are called Gray communicantes.  The
white ones are white because they have a myelin
sheath.

So just like any highway, you enter at one
point, travel along for a while and then exit at
another point.  Nerve impulses in the sympathetic
chain are no different.  They enter the
sympathetic chain at one vertebral level and exit
at another.

Now along these twin highways are service
stations.  Places where you can get out and
stretch your legs, change cars if you like or
split yourself in four and drive off in four
different cars going in different directions.

No hang on, that was a dream I had last night.

It may be stretching the analogy but it is what
nerve impulses do.  The service stations are the
paravertebral ganglia that make up the beads in
the chain.   At these service stations (ganglia)
nerve impulses may change cars (synapse) and
continue on their way in a new car (nerve).

or they might drive off in four different cars
in four different directions along axon
collaterals (branches).

Now here’s the bit I think you’re getting stuck
on.  Remember the suburb all the nerve impulses
live in?

Humour me.

It’s called ‘Spinal cord T1 – L2′

The sympathetic division may supply all parts
of the body but it only emerges from the spinal
cord and so only penetrates the dura between T1-
L2.

So it makes sense that there are more ‘Off’
ramps (gray communicantes) than ‘On’ ramps (white
communicantes).

14 ‘On’ ramps and 31 ‘Off’ ramps to be exact.

Each highway usually has 22 service stations
(paravertebral ganglion) but instead of them being
called, ‘the servo that has a McDonalds’ or ‘the
one that has KFC’, they’re called cervical,
thoracic, lumbar and sacral ganglia.

and not a big Mac in sight.

You want a coke with those fries or are you
still with me?

Good.
Now that you have a new found understanding of
the structure of the sympathetic chain . . .
just nod . . . it’s time for some audience participation.

The superior cervical ganglion is located
posterior to carotid artery and anterior to
transverse process of C2, right?  Keep nodding.

At what level of the spinal cord do the
sympathetic nerves emerge that supply the superior
cervical ganglion?

That’s correct! T1 or below.

and the middle cervical ganglion?

Correct again! T1 or below.

Now, you’ve got it.  Well look, we could chat
about this all day but you’ve got a model to make.

The significance of all this tomfoolery is that
if the sympathetic chain is compressed anywhere it
can have the effect of switching on the whole
sympathetic chain. Not good.

This can put you in constant ‘fight or flight’
mode.  Making you fearful and agitated with poor
digestion and lousy sleep.   You’ll be sensitive
to bright lights because your pupils are locked
open and you’ll have excess adrenalin in your body
which has a long term corrosive effect on your
nervous system.

Whadaya mean reading my response has had the
same effect?

+ Which technique should I use? – September 05

+ Comment from Al Pelowski, principal tutor with The South
African Institute of Cranial Studies. on sciatica- October 05

Hi John,
Found your web site very useful and your URL easy to remember.
I use it as my virtual business card. I have been treating a man in
his late fifties with sciatica. I have had some success but feel I
could achieve more.

Can you recommend any techniques that you have found
particularly useful for sciatica?
Thanks
J.P.
Brisbane.

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Glad you like the site.
I’m going to answer your question in two parts. Let me start by
saying no one technique is ‘the’ technique for ANYTHING.

Techniques are ways we get a handle on the bigger picture.
And the biggest picture is what you need to be available for.
I am putting it like that because describing it as ‘looking’ for
the biggest picture is way too active, eager, inefficient and INTURSIVE.
You need to ask yourself, what is really going on here?
Why has this person got these particular symptoms?
Why are the symptoms in this configuration?
What’s the root cause of this situation?

Symptoms generally manifest physically, meaning they show up
in the person’s body.  But that doesn’t mean the CAUSE of those
symptoms is exclusively physical.

Often EMOTIONAL issues will express themselves as physical symptoms.
It doesn’t just stop there, often the root cause of what is going
on has a physical component, caused by an emotional component
but the root cause is not emotional it is something DEEPER.

That may sound spooky or kooky to you depending on your slant
but I have seen it time and again, where the root cause was deeper
than physical and emotional issues.

How can that be?

Let’s go through it one layer at a time.
Physical problems.
These problems are characterised by very physical causes and
descriptions,  ‘The tentorium cerebelli is pulled inferiorly here,
causing pressure there . . .etc’.
Regardless of the source of a pattern of a restriction, it will show
up physically.  Becoming accurate in identifying the extent and
complexity of physical restrictions takes a lot of practice and is
a prerequisite for working with the deeper causes.

Emotional issues/causes.
Restrictions in the emotional aspect of the person can have causes
like, a person may need to leave a partner or job or it may be an old
emotional abuse.
Emotional restrictions are more difficult to identify accurately
because it’s very easy to start theorising about the person’s problems
instead of simply receiving the information from the person’s body in
the same way you do with physical patterns.

Core problems
These relate to how the person sees themselves in their lives, their
relationship with themselves, with God, with their idea of God.
A feeling that they’re off track.
And no, you don’t need to know what their track is.
Core problems can feel like fundamental disharmonies within the
person.  They are the hardest to perceive because they are so deep
in the person.
Your ability to see and work with these core issues comes with lots
of practice and humility.
Their revelation occurs in the dynamic between you and the person
and what you have to offer each other.

Are you with me?

It generally works its way through the layers something like this.
A disharmony in a person’s core will affect them emotionally and
in turn affect them physically.
For example someone might think they are fundamentally bad.
This could manifest emotionally as anxiety and paranoia, which
could manifest physically as headaches and chronic fatigue.
The skill comes in being able to assess where the root cause of
the problem is.

Before you go charging off into the great mystery, let me add this.
It can be as easy to go the other way and start looking for deep
emotional and core issues as the root cause of a purely physical
problem.

‘I just twisted my knee Mate!’

Now the second part of my answer is purely physical.
There are lots of different ways of creating sciatica.
It’s a pain, which means there have to be nerves involved.
The pain generally is in the lower back and travels down one
leg or the other, sometimes both.

Have a look at, [in books and with your hands] the lumbar plexus,
the sacral plexus.  How are the nerves on both sides of the spinal
column as they leave the vertebral foramina?

Scan the nerves up as far as the thoraco-lumbar junction.
Remember tight membranes can pull vertebrae together and pinch nerves.
Consider how long the person has been getting the pain?
Getting a sense of when and how the pattern of restriction was formed.
So, look particularly at the dural tube.
How are the membranes running?
Most particularly how is the cerebro spinal fluid moving?
Find ways to help it come into a harmonious flow.
It’s all about flow.

Top

***COMMENT FROM AL PELOWSKI***
- On additional physical causes of sciatica.

John,
Some of the rootlets of the sciatic nerve pass through the psoas
muscle – a noted emotional contractor- – slightly bent over posture,
unable to fully extend hips without pain, affected leg externally rotated.
Another sciatica tip: usually on right side, I-C Valve, Caecum.

Yet other possibilities: Leg length differences, real bony differences,
or more likely due to rotations in the leg from protecting an old sprained
ankle or twisted knee — most commonly external rotation in the foot
where there has been damage to the ankle lateral colateral ligaments
– resulting in compression of the S-I joint and thus irritation of the epineuria.
“from the ankle joint to the knee joint…etc” Remember the tune?

Yo. Ta for newsletter. Much food for reflection
A

>>>MY COMMENTS:

Thanks Al. All very useful places to look for the mechanics of
the physical manifestation of sciatica.