“Chiropractors get 80% of their patients well by adjusting 20% of the nervous system.” Imagine what happens when you tap into that other 80%?
“Are you insane?” were the first words that came to mind when I was first introduced to this unique and bazaar technique fresh out of college back in 1984, at a Parker Seminar. But of course, I knew everything back then and the thought of inserting a balloon into the nasal cavity and inflating it to adjust the cranium was just too inconceivable to me. I literally got up and walked out of the seminar, and the instructor made sure that everyone noticed as he aimed his laser pointer in the center of my back and proclaimed, “There goes a guy who just doesn’t get it!”
I had totally forgotten about this technique until about 15 years later, when an article came across my desk about a women who had fallen off a horse and hit her head, and was suffering from Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS), with all of the typical symptoms that went along with it, such as, depression, brain fog, malaise, headaches, memory loss, vertigo, visual disturbances, insomnia -and I don’t think the list ended there. She had consulted every neurologist and “Brain-trauma expert” on the planet with minimal results—then went up to see this doctor in Washington who performed balloons on her, and (according to her) she was brand new—it literally gave her, her life back!
So I went up and took the seminar, and quickly realized what I had been missing in my practice all these years, as I started witnessing a level of healing beyond what I thought was even possible—and usually with last-resort patients who had tried everything else first and had given up hope of ever getting better—for things like head trauma (TBI), PCS, post-stroke symptoms, Bell’s Palsy, trigeminal neuralgia, migraine headaches, vertigo, tinnitus, seizures, TMJ disorder, hearing loss, visual disturbances, breathing disorders, snoring, sleep apnea, sinusitis, deviated septum, emotional disorders, learning disorders, loss of smell, loss of taste, cranial distortions/ deformities in infants + babies with plagiocephaly—the list goes on and on.
STIMULATE the POWER of the VAGUS NERVE
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Now I know this sounds bazaar, but this is not a new concept. Cranial ballooning has been around since the early 1900s and was pioneered by chiropractor/naturopath, Dr. Richard Stober back in the 60s and 70s. He called his procedure “Bilateral Nasal Specific,” or BNS, and all present-day versions of this technique arose from his methods and procedures.
There are several different approaches being taught today, from Functional Cranial Release (FCR), to Neuro Cranial Restructuring (NCR), to Nasal Release Technique (NRT), to Nasal Specific—each with a slight variation in application, but all with the common denominator of using endonasal balloon inflations to directly adjust the cranium. The version I developed is called Cranial Facial Release (CFR).
To understand how this technique works, it is important to realize that the skull is not one solid bone. It is made up of 22 individual bones that actually move every time you inhale—or at least they are supposed to. Every time you inhale, the cranium expands—every time you exhale the cranium relaxes and contracts with the purpose of pumping Cerebral Spinal Fluid throughout the brain and spinal cord.
Within this process, each of the cranial bones has its own “Direction of Motion” as the cranium expands and relaxes to accommodate the increased intrathecal pressure exerted within the cranial vault every time you inhale. Any “Fixation” or restriction of motion of any of these individual cranial bones, impedes the flow of CSF to that part of the brain and typically gives rise to a wide variety of symptoms and neurological disorders—including chronic neurological disorders and visceral disease (according to medical doctor and researcher, Dr. A.D. Speransky and his book The Theory for the Basis of Medicine).
This cranial phenomenon is facilitated by way of the Dural attachment to the base of the occiput and the base of the sacrum, which acts as a lever between the two. They work in conjunction to flex and relax every time you breathe to create a pumping mechanism that facilitates the flow of CSF throughout the brain and spinal cord. Now I realize this is a new concept for most of you, but regardless of common opinion, the cranial bones do move. It’s not gross osseous movement, but more of a flexion (expansion) and relaxation of the skull with respiration (according to the expert, anatomist, and researcher Dr. Marc Pick and his 1000-page cranial book entitled Cranial Sutures).
The primary bone of the skull is the Sphenoid bone. It is the central most bone of the cranial vault and it is the primary bone we are targeting in CFR technique. The Sphenoid bone houses the pituitary gland and articulates with 12 other bones—especially important is where the Sphenoid articulates with the basilar portion of the occiput. Here it forms a very important joint called the “Spheno-basilar junction.” The SB junction is a symphysis joint, which means its “Disc-like” and, as we all know, “Structure relates to function”—a basic chiropractic principal The SB Junction is designed this way specifically to allow for the flexion and relaxation of the cranial system upon respiration. All cranial motion revolves around this specialized joint and it is the primary joint we are targeting in CFR technique.
The equipment used to perform this specialized procedure is a finger cot tied to a sphyg bulb. We use colloidal silver gel as a lubricant to avoid infection and a blunt-ended wooden toothpick to carefully insert the balloon in the nose. The most common question I get asked when performing this technique is, “Are you inserting the balloon into the sinus cavity?” The answer is NO! We are inserting the balloon into the nasopharynx, which is the opening between the nose and the throat.
The nasopharynx is divided up into 3 sections on each side—lower, middle, and upper—a total of 6, called the nasal turbinates. The balloon is inserted as far back into the appropriate turbinate as possible, then quickly inflated to open up the breathing passageways and mobilize the bones of the face and cranium. By reinstating normal cranial motion, taking the torque off the Dura, facilitating normal CSF flow, increasing oxygen-carrying capacity to the brain, increasing vascular flow to the brain, increasing venous and lymphatic drainage from the brain, and relieving the tension off the anterior attachment of the Dura at the Sellae Turcica, it optimizes the function of the two primary control centers of the body—the brain and pituitary gland—primarily focusing on the other 80% of the nervous system, at the source of the nerve impulse before moving further down the chain and concerning ourselves with how that nerve impulse is transmitted.
Exactly what BJ was talking about when he came up with the phrase, “From Above Down FIRST”! Yet as chiropractors, very few of us are addressing the source of the problem where the primary subluxation lies— above the neck, in the cranium.
80% versus 20%. What’s there not to get?
Dr. Adam J Del Torto is a 1984 Graduate of NYCC. He is the founder and developer of a specialized "balloon assisted" cranial adjusting technique called Cranial Facial Release (CFR). CFR often works on last resort patients who have not responded to other forms of conventional treatment.
Dr. Adam is also the creator of a new chiropractic convention called "CHIROPRACTIC ROCKS" - an annual event which features 20+ high-level speakers whose primary objective is help to "Shape the Future of Chiropractic and Create the Next Generation of Chiropractic Legends". Chiropractic Rocks is the newest wave of chiropractic conventions to come onto the horizon to help navigate this profession into the next millennium and beyond.
