Craniosacral Rhythm

Craniosacral Rhythm (Primary Respiratory Mechanism, PRM; Cranial Rhythmic Impulse, CRI) is the basic "vital" rhythm of the body in craniosacral therapy (#26).

What it is. It is the rhythmic movement of cerebrospinal fluid — from 6 to 12 cycles per minute (according to W. G. Sutherland, the founder of osteopathy).

History

Discovery in the 1930s. First described by Dr. William Garner Sutherland (William Garner Sutherland, D.O.) in the 1930s as the "breath of life" of the skull bones.

Diagnostic Use

• Palpation of the rhythm. The practitioner senses with the hands the rhythm in various zones of the body
• Restriction. A slowing or stopping of the rhythm at a specific point indicates imprinted stress, trauma or blockage
• The "still point" — a therapeutic state of temporary cessation of the rhythm, after which the system is reset

Scientific Status

A debated zone. The PRM mechanism remains a debated subject. A number of studies confirm the existence of rhythmic oscillations of cerebrospinal fluid, but their diagnostic link has no consensus in evidence-based medicine.

Significance for Errarium

The body as a data channel. In Errarium, PRM is an example of an instrument on the D2 axis (bodily data) with the C1 mechanism (structural causality).