CRANIOPATHY
DR. NEPHI COTTAM
Written by George A. Cole, D.C.
The science and art of CRANIOPATHY are based on the following facts:
- The brain is the upward continuation and expansion of the spinal cord. Together the brain and the spinal cord form the central nervous system. This central nervous system builds the body, makes it go, and repairs it when it is ill or injured.
- The cranium is the upward continuation and expansion of the vertebral column, commonly called the spine. Together the cranium and the spine form a protective covering for the central nervous system.
- The bones of the vertebral column—the bones of the cranium and bones of the spine—Are vertebrae, all vertebrae. Those of the cranium are called cranial vertebrae; those of the spine are called spinal vertebrae.
- The vertebrae of the cranium are specially shaped to form a basin to hold and protect the bulk of the brain. The vertebrae of the spine are specially shaped to form a conduit to hold and protect the length of the cord.
- Bodily irritations cause contractions of the tissues binding together the cranial vertebrae and the spinal vertebrae. These contractions commonly draw the cranial vertebrae down on the brain so as to inhibit it in its work of generating nerve force and apportioning this nerve force to the working body parts. These contractions also draw spinal vertebrae down on the cord so as to press on the cord and thus inhibit it in its work of conducting the body nerve force from the brain to the body working parts.
- Cranial vertebrae and spinal vertebrae can be adjusted to remove these contractions and so free the brain and the spinal cord from the abnormal pressure caused by these contractions, and thus permit them to function normally in their work of generation and conduction of body nerve force.
- Then the brain takes on a renewed and increased activity to furnish nerve force to correct body defects and relieve physical and mental ailments.
- The proper procedure in making these adjustments of cranial vertebrae and spinal vertebrae is to adjust first the cranial vertebrae; then the condyles on the atlas if they remain in need of adjustment; then the atlas if it remains in need of adjustment; and then each successively lower vertebrae, if any, in need of adjustment.
- Every nerve center being more or less in control over all the lower nerve centers, the brain under cranial treatment, sometimes corrects all subluxations below it; the atlas sometimes corrects all subluxations below it; and so on down the spine.
It thus becomes clear that the adjustments of cranial vertebrae and the adjustment of spinal vertebrae form a single and inseparable system of treatment and that therefore cranial adjustments come within the strictest definitions of chiropractic, even such definitions as, “A system of adjusting the movable segments of the spinal column.” and “The science of palpating and adjusting the articulations of the spinal column with the hands only.”
With this combined procedure of cranial adjustments and spinal adjustments, it is possible to reach cases not susceptible of correction or relief through spinal adjustments; and to shorten the time for successful treatment of cases susceptible of correction or relief through spinal adjustments; and also to make more lasting the correction of spinal subluxations.
It can be shown by the highest anatomical authorities old and new, that the cranium is the superior continuation and expansion of the spine; that the bones of the cranium are vertebrae; and that they are movable with reference to one another throughout life. It is a matter of everyday experience in the office of doctors using cranial adjustments that cranial vertebrae are adjustable, just as spinal vertebrae are adjustable, and that generally speaking, they require adjustments, as often as spinal vertebrae require adjusting.
To provide nomenclature for cranial adjustment, I have coined the words craniopathy, craniopathist, craniopathic. These words are good words, etymologically analogous to other words of general acception in the healing art. They have been approved by the foremost group of lecicographers in the United States.
Craniopathy is seven years old. It is being practiced in nearly every large city in the United States. In Germany, Austria, Italy, Greece, Hawaii. It is being taught in at least three chiropractic colleges, after a fashion. It is being practiced in the offices of the dean and the vice-president of fourth chiropractic college. It will eventually be taught in every chiropractic college, and made a part of every chiropractic adjustment.
Any doctor using craniopathy is beyond competition from those doctors who do not use it. To lay a patient on the table and cause the brain to correct pelvic distortions and bring a high hip or a high foot down even with the other one, is the most immediately and highly impressive and convincing thing that any doctor can do. The correction is done instantly, even with congenital cases, those that have returned home from the offices of the great specialists, pronounced incurable. With this work it is possible to out-Lorenz the great Lorenz of Vienna. It is possible to make child-birth easier and save more mothers in child-birth than with any other method. It is the superior way to a quick and easy, painless substitute for trepanning, or trephining, to correct incorrigible dispositions. As a quick and sure beautifier of woman, it has no equal, and has been so proved up to the age of 65 years. As a bedside technique, it is most convenient and valuable. It works most rapidly in bringing to the front children dwarfed in body and mind. It draws weak and prolapsed organs into place and holds them there.
In short, craniopathy is the most generally and highly efficacious manipulative healing procedure so far known. It is here to stay, and to spread to every doctor’s office in our nation and elsewhere.
Cranial adjustments, called craniopathy, are the discovery and the invention of Dr. Nephi Cottam, 400 Scott Building, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Written around 1932 by George A. Cole, D.C.