Finally, after many years of searching I secured a copy of an original Craniopathy book by Nephi Cottam, D.C..
Supposedly, this was the first book ever printed on cranial adjusting and cranial manipulation. It was published in 1936. I say supposedly because I found an original copy of I.N. Toftness’ book Cranial Technique, which was published in 1932 about a year ago.
The stories Dr. Cottam has in his book are amazing. The first adjustment he made was on a screaming, raving mad woman. He made a house call and the husband locked him in the house and wouldn’t let him leave until she was better!
I can’t imagine that happening now, but this was sometime in the 1920’s.
Dr. Cottam tried everything he knew how to do for over a day and couldn’t figure out why she was tearing drapes from the wall and pulling at her hair.
Finally, he decided she must be trying to release some pressure in her skull. He devised an adjustment where he could get this pressure release to happen. He told the husband he wasn’t sure what would come of it, but the husband replied, “she’s no good to me this way”!
So, with the help of the husband, Dr. Cottam performed his first cranial adjustment. And you know what? The woman went back to normal immediately. She reported to him him she knew she wasn’t behaving correctly, but she couldn’t stop herself.
The book has several stories, but what a start.
I’m lucky because I get to stand on the shoulders of giants like Dr. Nephi Cottam.
It would have been fun to be around in those early days when everything was so new, but in reality, it’s still new to this day.
How many people do you know understand the skull moves? How many know the plates of the skull can be adjusted? How many see a chiropractor or osteopath trained in cranial adjusting?
My guess is not many.
Why? I don’t really know because the most profound, amazing changes I have seen in my patients have come from adjusting the bones of the skull. Not even a close second.
Yet here we are in 2020, 84 years after Dr. Cottam’s book was written and barely anybody knows anything about the cranium.
The bones of the skull move.
Amazing things happen when a skull that is locked up is freed. I have seen it time and time again. Take a look at this website. Spend some time here and you’ll see more stories.