The Eye
And Brain Therapy
© 2005 Dr. Barry R. Gillespie
Eye conditions are prevalent in today’s society.
Because of tissue trauma in this area over the
course of a lifetime, many conditions can be helped
with Brain Therapy. This article discusses certain
eye diseases that Brain Therapy (craniosacral therapy integrated
with myofascial and TMJ-dental therapies) can help.
In the healthy client the seven bones that form the orbit
need to exhibit good motion and position. The main eye bone
is the sphenoid, forming the posterior aspect of the orbit.
For all of the eye and other facial bones to move correctly,
the sphenoid has to be fully free in its motion.
Because of the key position of the sphenoid in the cranium
as it goes into flexion and extension, it drives all of
the facial bones.
The maxillary bone, which forms the floor of the eye, can
compress the eye tissues during a difficult upper tooth extraction.
A blow to the frontal bone can compress the eye from the superior
direction. If the zygoma is struck, it can compress the eye
medially. If the nose is traumatized, the lacrimal and/or
ethmoid bones may be affected.
One of the principle areas of headache that clients would
report to me over the years is pain directly behind their
eye. The history may or may not denote a trauma on that side
of the head. Clinically, the brain cycle would be very restricted.
In therapy the occipital release would have more than one
objective:
- First, it would release meningeal strain
down the dural tube into the sacrum.
- Second, it would free the occiput and
adjacent temporal and parietal bones.
- Third, it would, through its connection in the sphenobasilar
area, start to free up the sphenoid bone
and all other adjacent eye and facial bones.
Over a series of visits, the complaint of pain behind the
eye would usually recede as the meninges release.
Brain Therapy For Strabismus In Children
A major area where we can help children is strabismus, which
is defined as any abnormal eye position.
There are three aspects to this condition.
- First, the movement and function of the seven
eye bones are discussed above.
- The second aspect is the nerve connection from
the brain stem to the eye muscles. Three cranial
nerves, the oculomotor (III), the trochlear (IV), and the
abducens (VI) innervate the four rectus and two oblique
muscles that move the eye. If any combination of these nerves
is compressed by bony structures, a child may have strabismus.
- A third possibility is a potential fascial strain
pattern in the eye muscles and surrounding tissues. Just
as we may be struck on the shoulder or lower back causing
a fascial strain pattern here, a blow to the eye area can
cause a fascial strain pattern in the eye and surrounding
tissues.
Brain Therapy can be effective in freeing the motion of
the bones, relieving any possible pressure on the affected
cranial nerves, and mitigating any fascial strain that exists
in the orbit and surrounding areas.
When we evaluate a child with strabismus, we do not know
which of the three possibilities exits. We just do the work,
cover all the bases, and see how the progress unfolds.
The medical model prescribes surgery to correct
the eye misalignment. For a few children surgery may be
needed, but I would strongly recommend that this more conservative
therapy be tried first.
Possible Help For Glaucoma With Brain Therapy
Another eye condition that we can possibly help people with
is glaucoma.
Glaucoma is a pressure disease caused by the obstruction
of the outflow of aqueous humor. Whenever we find that a condition
in the body is caused by pressure, Brain Therapy (craniosacral
therapy integrated with myofascial and TMJ-dental therapies)
can possibly be an answer.
In physiology as the pressure is relieved, that body area
(the eye) can work better. Specifically, as the pressure is
relieved around the veins that pass through the superior orbital
fissure, the fluids in the eye can drain better. Brain Therapy
can be very helpful for clients with glaucoma.
Improvement Of Two Conditions:
Double Vision And Astigmatism
The same philosophy would hold true with two other conditions,
diplopia (double vision) and astigmatism.
Three very important clinical points need to be made about
eye therapy.
1. When you start craniosacral, fascial, and TMJ therapies
with a client who wears glasses, you must inform her that
her eyes will probably change for the better in
treatment. She will probably have to visit the
eye doctor to get new lenses after you are done. In 1980
I saw a headache client who wore glasses. During treatment
his chronic headache that he presented with ceased but turned
into a low-grade headache caused by his current glasses.
The lenses that were fine at the beginning became too strong
in therapy as his sight improved and created a low-grade
headache.
2. Care must also be exercised with keratatomy patients.
Therapy may start to correct the original problem that
the surgery compensated for, and the vision may become blurry
on the over-corrected side. Since the keratatomy procedure
is becoming more popular, you must be aware of this factor.
3. The third factor is to be aware of metal-framed
glasses and their effect on brain motion. You can do
all of the craniosacral, fascial, TMJ, and muscle therapy
in the world – when the client puts her glasses on,
the frames can severely restrict her brain motion and undo
all of your great work. No one is sure why this happens,
but please check the client’s brain motion with her
glasses on for this possibility.
In the conventional sense of pure tough therapies,
we may not necessarily think in terms of corrective eye work.
But when we look at the eyes as interwoven with fascia and
surrounded by muscles sitting in the craniosacral mechanism,
we realize that Brain Therapy can help many people with eye
difficulties.
For
more articles about the role of Brain Therapy in correcting
chronic conditions in children and adults .
. .
For
more information about the "Brain Therapy for Children
and Adults" seminar for health professionals
. . .
