Sutural stimulation

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What are sutures?

Sutures are the points of contact between the various bones that make up a person’s skull.

The bones of the skull defend the brain, where the most important functions for life are located.

Everything is based in the brain: our personality, our memories, our experience, our reactivity to any stimulus both external and internal. Therefore, it is essential for this structure be protected: the bones of the skull and the meninges perform this function.

If the bones of the skull were completely rigid, they would be at high risk of fracture. The same chewing could cause fractures, there were no sutures.

The sutures therefore have the function of cushioning, which is ensured by the micromobility, also called elasticity, of the cranial sutures. The mobility of cranial sutures is scientifically proven and there are numerous studies on this, studies that belong to Jean Claude Herniou, of which we are honored to have followed the courses. In the sutures there are no muscles that move the joints directly, but they move and deform passively under the pressure of other structures.

From an osteopathic and biomechanical point of view the cranial problems are due to the alteration of the cushioning function of the cranial sutures.

What happens when you have cranial suture damage?

Normally the joints have stretching or compression sensors, sensors with a proprioceptive function  telling the nervous system how they are positioned in relation to the rest of the body and space. They give an answer on the execution of the movement and thanks to these sensors the brain knows always and in an exact way the position of a joint or the way in which it is moving. Damage to a mechanical, muscular or connective joint causes movement dysfunction.

Thus, even inside the cranial sutures there are sensors, free nerve endings and the same sutures are crossed by nerve branches that start from the trigeminal nucleus and innervate the dura mater, the skull, the masticatory and cervical muscles.

The skull and the information deriving from the sutural nerve endings depend on: 

• Eye movement
• Mucous drainage
• Chewing
• Smell
• balance movements of the head on the cervical
• the sensations of balance 

Cranial sutures work like all other joint informants. An irritation, a load defect or an asymmetry can alter the functions listed above and, at the same time, can create torsive forces on the skull, irritating the cranial sutures that become painful.

These torsive forces can distribute the altered loads even in areas far from the origin of the asymmetry. In fact, this explains why very often the migraine felt in an area does not correspond to a dysfunction of that side of the head. The terminations have a proprioceptive function, that is they inform the trunk areas assigned to the skull about how and how the skull behaves following certain stresses. These areas can become painful in the case of disorders of the cranial system, which is affected, for example, by imbalances deriving from problems with dental occlusion or with ocular sphere.

In addition, in the specific case of migraine or headache, the continuous and frequent irritations of the trigeminal terminations that pass through the sutures progressively irritate these nerves making them more sensitive than usual, leading to a constant increase in pain. This is the mechanism by which the intensity and frequency of headaches tend to increase over the years.

How does a sutural stimulation session take place?

In the sutural stimulation session, the therapist detects the areas of sutural sensitization present on the patient’s skull and face and treats the nerves responsible for these sensitizations, one by one with Deep Nerve Stimulation (DNS), progressively reducing the number and intensity of painful areas. This work is long, complex and requires a lot of concentration on the part of the operator, as well as a careful collaboration on the part of the patient. A sutural stimulation session lasts an hour on average. Patients with a long history of cranial pain are regularly seen, so the analysis and treatment of these sensitized areas lasts many sessions.

What are the benefits of sutural stimulation?

The sutural stimulation reduces the pain response of the cranial sutures and has proved to be an excellent integration to cranial medical-surgical specialties.

Find indication by itself or in combination with treatments:

• Dentists: for example in the case of dental treatments with orthodontic appliances, palatal expansion, cross byte or open byte, in case of temporomandibular joint disorders, dental occlusion and gnathology.
• O.R.L. and Maxillofacial: as in the case of recurrent sinusitis with headaches, results of rhinoplasty surgery, deviated nasal septum or in results of facial trauma with or without surgical reconstruction and in mandibular surgery.
• Orthoptics and optometry: in association with treatments with lenses and / or orthoptics, ocular gymnastics in the case of strabismus, ocular convergence disorders,…
• Migraines and headaches: cluster headaches, myotensive, cervicogenic and chronic headaches.

The treatment is delicate, painless and non-invasive, without particular contraindications, but which will be evaluated in-house for each specific treatment.