The Sphenoid Pattern

The what?

There is a bone in your skull called the sphenoid bone. Its edges are located on both sides of your head near the temples.

The sphenoid bone is important because it connects with every other bone in the skull. Together with the back of the skull it forms a junction that acts like a pump to move cerebrospinal fluid throughout your nervous system. This fluid is important for delivering nutrients to the rest of the nervous system.

Damage to this junction can cause many different problems. The list is big: headaches, endocrine dysfunction, brain fog, disturbance of lacrimal and nasal glands, problems with drainage of the nasal cavities, and many other problems associated with the cranial nerves.

The pattern that we see is that once there is damage to the sphenoid, the occipital bone loses mobility too. The occipital bone is the bone that makes up the back of the head. This area protects the part of the brain that controls balance and coordination.

You can therefore see that the sphenoid pattern consisting of sphenoid and occiput damage can have many negative results in our health.

Due to the sensitivity of the bones, I like to use the Arthrostim instrument to adjust these areas. It’s easier than using my hands, less forceful and involves no twisting or cracking. Patients like it because it’s very gentle.

The bones can need adjustments from front to back or back to front. They can also go up or down and may need a counterclockwise or clockwise turn during the adjustment. The greater the specificity of the adjustment, the greater the results.

How we determine the direction of the adjustment is to assess the strain on the muscles in the back of the head. I will place my thumbs on the muscles and feel the tone or tightness of the muscles. Once I’ve got a picture of the tone of the muscles, I will then challenge or irritate one of the sphenoids and instantly recheck the tone. If I challenged the sphenoid forward and it resulted in greater tightness in the neck/head muscles, I know to adjust the sphenoid in the opposite direction. This way it will create more relaxation.

If I challenge the sphenoid bone and it results in no change in the tone of the head muscles, I know that everything is working fine there and I will then check another direction.

After the adjustment, patients will notice different things. Patients often feel a sense of expansion or “lightness.” Headaches and even some migraines may decrease. Patients also have noted that they feel a sense of calmness and relaxation.

Taking care of patients with sphenoid pattern problems is exciting and rewarding. It’s a blast to be able to help so many different problems with just a light touch.