New cranial elective offered at azcom
AZCOM certified its inaugural class in osteopathic cranial therapy this summer! This course drew about a dozen second-year students who were filled with a combination of curiosity and passion for this revered and ridiculed manual medicine tradition. We hoped for greater understanding as we stood at the crossroads of our osteopathic principles and the art of medicine. Practicing Phoenix-area physicians joined us for specific sessions of interest. We had enriched discussions as the docs shared insights into how Sutherland’s teachings matched up with pathologies and somatic dysfunctions they see in their respective practices —whether it be family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, allergy, or dentistry.
Osteopathy in the cranial field (OCM) is a small subset of osteopathy, but the practitioners who use these techniques play an invaluable role promoting and restoring health. The benefits of cranial work (CrOMM) can be particularly striking in newborn populations and patients with contraindications for virtually all other treatment modalities. Beyond the in-depth anatomy lessons, we learned about fascinating research which supports these teachings that the cranial bones are designed to move, and that cranial techniques can effect these cranial bone movements. Then we practiced our palpatory skills, finessing subtle techniques, without the usual time constraints and distractions that tend to plague a full OMM laboratory. At the ends of the days, I wanted to celebrate my successes in palpating the most minute physical and physiologic changes, but I was so exhausted. The family and friends were unsympathetic when I recounted the challenging hours spent lounging on the OMM Table.
“We learned a lot during our jam-packed 40-Hour Basic Training Course,” praised OMS-II Jacob Burdett, “I’m really glad we had the experience.” It was a major undertaking for the OMM staff to develop the curriculum in time, but they managed to produce an outstanding program with the shared resources and support from many folks in the national osteopathic community. A big, big “Thank you” to all the contributors, especially Drs. Kate Worden, Adrienne Kania, Mary Ann Magoun, Rebecca Giusti, David Shoup, Raymond Hruby, William Lemley, Paul Lee, Mickey Seffinger, William Devine, Gary Gailius, Greg Heller, associates at Western-COMP and RVUCOM, and our AZCOM OMM Scholars! “We are thankful for our cranial mentors, who live this work and have been the guardians and custodians of our history. Now its our turn to pass our knowledge on...through this course and by converting the old films to power point files... computer images. We are preserving these records and improving access.” — Kate Worden, DO.
by Heather McNab, AZCOM SAAO National Representative
10 Live Still Point / Oct 2014 5