Interview Cristina Carrió – November 2009:

- Cristina Carrió

Cristina studied physical therapy in the Centro Europeo de Estudios Superiores in Madrid, and osteopathy at the Escuela del Concepto Osteopático of the Fundación M.E.S. in Madrid and Barcelona. She is only 29 years old. She participated for 6 months on the television show Entre Dos Luces in Guadalajara, Spain. Having had thyroid cancer at 25, she gets what pain, suffering, fighting, and surviving are all about and that makes her a very complete therapist. 1. Cristina, please define for our readers what the holistic philosophy behind osteopathy is. Osteopathy sees the body – that means all the tissues - as a whole and the objective of treatment is always to get to the root of the problem, as opposed to treating the secondary symptoms resulting from the primary problem. The logic of the osteopathic principle is that by finding and working the primary problem, a healing chain reaction occurs which will automatically deal with the secondary symptoms given that all tissues are connected (by the fascia).

2. Where does the term osteopathy come from? A lot of people who are not familiar with this therapy assume that it only deals with bones or structure in general.

The father of osteopathy, Andrew Taylor Still – an American medical doctor in the late 1800’s -, maintained that all illnesses resided in our bones. So, in effect, the osteopath does work a great deal on the bones – or rather inside the bones -, not in a structural way as would a physical therapist but at the level of bone density. This is done by “listening” to movement inside the trabecular bone (porous, spongy part of the bone). All living cells inside our bodies are in movement and possess a certain harmony, and the same happens at osseous level. When there is an injury, even if the bone doesn’t break, it can become denser and manifest torsion. In the same manner, too much visceral tension can affect bone density.

3. Are there various schools of thoughts/techniques within osteopathy?

Osteopathy is not about techniques, osteopathy is a concept and a philosophy. Osteopathy has various components: structural, visceral, and cranial and some schools focus almost solely on the structural component, what in my opinion is a grave mistake because you are simply ignoring all the rest. It contradicts the osteopathic philosophy which is: structure plus internal organs plus the system which connects it all - the fascia or connective tissue.

4. In reflexology, two main things guide us : what the patient tells us (or doesn’t tell us) and the texture in the reflexes. In osteopathy what do you look for?

I look for “silences”. The first thing an osteopath does is sit down with the patient lying down and to observe the primary respiratory movement, in other words cell movement. That’s what the osteopath feels with his hands. A cell possesses an expanding and retracting motion as it breathes, as it absorbs nutrients and excretes waste material. This motion extends to all tissues in the body and becomes greater. The hands of an osteopath are trained so that he or she can feel cell motion. When all is well in the body, you feel an expansion of the tissues. When there is a problem, you feel a “silence” – an absence of expansion, an absence of cell respiration. Silences are best felt from the skull area since all the connective tissue (fascia) ends in the occipital lobe. Fascia is the key to everything. I can feel the entire body from there. When an organ is not breathing, the surrounding fascia becomes tense. The osteopath can feel that tension all the way into the occipital lobe and know – because he has been trained to do so – where the congestion will be located. Between this and what the patient has told you, the picture of the problem becomes clear. But, in essence, the osteopath lets his hands follow the “silences”.

5. In reflexology, we stimulate the natural healing processes by stimulating blood and lymph flow, nerve flow (specially contacting those nerves located in the reflexes of the affected areas - whether direct or relative), and by contacting acupuncture points. How do you treat the congested areas you encounter?

We restore cell respiration and in this way unblock the congested areas. In the case of an internal organ, I place one hand under and one hand above the organ until I feel I am really holding the organ. First I feel its movement, then I join the movement with my hands and finally I stimulate that movement – this can be done in different ways, sometimes I pump the organ, sometimes I push the organ even further into the position in which it is stuck thus waking it up to return to its natural position and breathing motion.

We drain the congested areas (stimulate the lymphatic system): this occurs automatically by stimulating cell respiration which inevitably invigorates blood flow.

We stimulate spinal nerve roots directly and we work on the related dermatomes.

As for the nervous system, it can be worked from the occipital lobe, by draining it, or directly on the solar plexus, and along the spine.

In essence what osteopathy does is to stimulate the natural healing processes.

6. More specifically speaking about back pain, in reflexology we treat the back pain problems within the frame of the shoulders-hips quadrant and anything inside that “rectangle”, meaning the entire spine, the back and the neck muscles. Sometimes, we even need to treat the knees and ankles. Is the osteopathic approach to back problems similar? What is your approach to exercise?

Back pain to us hardly ever begins in the structure and ends in the structure. Back pain to us is the result of something else, it’s an adaptation of the structure due to a lack of mobility in the (connective) tissue. So I look for the “silence” which is affecting the structure. A chronic or recurrent back pain in my experience is almost always the result of an emotional problem affecting an internal organ and the pulling of the corresponding connective tissue on the spine. If prolonged, this situation affects the back muscles and these begin to hurt. I do believe exercise and being active is good, but it’s good in general, not specifically for the back. My job is to look for origins and primary causes of somatic problems so I will never see sports as the one and only solution to back pain. Evidently it helps and in some people it can help a great deal. In fact, to best protect a back and a spine from a muscular point of view, sports like swimming, which build up the smaller deeper muscles of the back – these are the muscles responsible for posture –, are the most indicated. However, building up the back muscles does not remove what I believe to be the origin of the problem. But that’s my point of view as an osteopath.

7. In many countries, like Spain, natural therapies are still badly understood by the general population and ignored by the medical world. How do you see this evolving in the future?

I believe that things are evolving positively because patients are becoming more and more demanding. They talk to their doctors about the positive results they obtain with complementary therapies and little by little doctors are listening and are becoming more curious, specially those who truly want to help their patients in non-invasive ways. People are also starting to question more and more what their doctors are telling them, they have the internet at their finger tips to research and check the information that is given to them. Patients are taking more responsibility for their own self. It’s all very positive but it is a slow process.

To get in contact with Cristina: criscarrio@hotmail.com or +34 911 527 527