Asthma

Case Study in Pediatric Asthma:

5/16/2008

INTRODUCTION Asthma is an inflammatory disorder of the airways that causes wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing.1 Nine million children in America under the age of eighteen have been diagnosed with asthma.2 The asthma rate in American children under the age of five has increased more than 160% from 1980 to 1994.3 Approximately 5,000 Americans die every year from asthma.2 Healthcare costs in America for asthma are over sixteen billion dollars annually.2 An estimated 300 million people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds from all over the globe suffer from asthma and approximately 250,000 people a year die from it.4 Current Western treatment focuses on managing asthma with two types of medication. In the first group anti-inflammatory drugs (corticosteroids) reduce swelling and mucous formation in the airways. Secondly, bronchodilators relax the smooth muscle cells that tighten around the airways; the child’s breathing improves when the tracheobronchial tree opens.5 An alternative strategy for reducing and potentially even eliminating asthma symptoms involves manipulation of the craniosacral fascial system. This system is an integration of the craniosacral and fascial or connective tissue components. William Sutherland D.O. discovered the craniosacral aspect about one hundred years ago.6 He found that the cranial bones and sacrum moved as the brain “breathed”. More recently John Upledger D.O. furthered the concept by discovering that the strain from trauma was primarily held in the connective tissue of the cranial dura and not the bones.7 In the craniosacral concept human physiology is strongly dependant on the slight motion of the brain and spinal cord and the fluctuation of the cerebrospinal fluid within the meningeal and osseous systems.8-15 Craniosacral theory holds that trauma can impair the normal rhythms of this fluctuation and result in disease and organ dysfunction. Manual therapy can help rebalance these natural nervous

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