Fetal malposition commonly creates cranial restrictions. Certain asymmetries are natural. For example, the right side of the face is never comparable to the left. The position the fetus adopts in utero, as well as, the way in which the baby presents at delivery (breech birth, etc.) may result in a dominant side, which can explain asymmetrical cranial lesions. These differences are common, sometimes genetic, and sometimes acquired.
Constraints/restrictions in utero can be the result of uterine spasms, sometimes due to the mother's position. The baby may be positioned too low, or may enter the birth canal too early, as a result of the mother sitting, standing, or lying down for an extended period of time.
Working mothers-to-be often try to work as late as possible into their third trimester so they can take more time off after delivery. The infant is literally compressed against the pelvis with the head rotated to one side, leaving one side of the head more compressed than the other.
Forceps and suction are inevitable when the life of the infant or the mother is at stake. Nevertheless, this procedure can create numerous and significant osteo-cartilaginous restrictions.
Caesarean section spares the baby’s cranium from the impact of labor and delivery. Although invaluable at times, a caesarean section has the tremendous disadvantage of depriving the cranium of the chance to be “molded” by the natural compressive forces of the birth canal. The cranium is therefore left in the same state as it was in uterus. This is not always desirable, especially in the presence of cranial deformations.*
Embryonic Limitations and early Structural Organization
As the fetus grows, environmental pressures begin to dominate. At six months, the fetus is really being pressed by the limitations of space. This is particularly true if the mother’s posture or structure supports the pregnancy with difficulty. The child moves around quite a bit, so that it does have some ongoing choice. Especially towards the eighth month of pregnancy, however, this movement tends to be restricted to the limbs because there is little space.
The child’s position in uterus is thus important in its structural development and alignment. Whether the head is to the right or to the left of the knees, where the arms are in relationship to the spine – these factors establish the individual pattern of the vertebral column. We assume that the position of the head on the neck is determined by these spinal rotations. The assumption is that this relationship is established as early as the first week of pregnancy.
Such primary rotations are augmented and compensated by intrauterine limitations during late pregnancy. These rotations in the fetus continue into the structure of the adult. There are numerous examples of restrictions in the fascial sheets and connections as the child develops in the womb over time and their effects in later life. This may be the origin of so-called spontaneous curvatures. Children who have shown no prior structural problems can suddenly develop a curvature (scoliosis) just before puberty. It is possible that the pattern of the curve may have been established in the soft tissue relationships of the spine early on. These include nerves, fascia, rotational axis of each organ, meninges (dura), even down to the cellular level.**
In your session, it is our goal to go back to the original restriction and learn how it occurred during embryological development, regardless of your age. Of course, the older you are and the more memories and/or life experiences - physical/emotional/spiritual - are stored in your tissues, the longer it takes to unravel this pattern. Parents who watch me treating their baby, see me taking the baby right into this pattern and correcting any curvature. That’s why “the younger at time of treatment, the easier”.
On a personal note: I came to this work as a patient, crippled at age 33 from the effects of a pretty severe fetal mal position, resulting in a restriction going through my entire body and faulty treatment of this condition by conventional medicine. Today, I am living proof that even at an older age it can be corrected. However, the price of recovery is much more time, money and suffering. Immediate or early intervention could have spared me decades of pain, but I probably wouldn’t be the Therapist I am today.
*Excerpt from the book “Manual Therapy for the Cranial Nerves” – Barral, Croibier (Osteopaths)
** Excerpts taken from the book “The Endless Web - Fascial Anatomy and Physical Reality” by R. Louis Schultz, PhD and Rosemary Feitis, DO
