PRIMARY RESPIRATORY MECHANISM

Every cell breathes.

• This is a fact.
• It is called metabolic respiration and involves intake of nutrients and release of products and wastes. It precedes thoracic respiration (breathing as you know it)
• Cellular respiration in a complex organism is coordinated and patterned.

Osteopaths refer to this as Primary Respiratory Mechanism. It is our way of describing what we feel in careful palpation and perception. It was “discovered” and defined by William Garner Sutherland, the osteopath recognized internationally as the founder of “cranial” osteopathy. He saw, felt, and evaluated the movements of the cranial bones and the breathing of the central nervous system. Sutherland’s procedures are used, taught, and studied all over the world.