IMPORTANT FYI: It should be noted that in 1985, when the following article was published, Dr. Craton was still trying to cause the chiropractic profession to raise it's standards. Since the chiropractors absolutely refused to follow his research by 1) refusing to teach his findings in the chiropractic colleges, and 2) refusing to embrace his methods by their boards, which are the two things that are required in order for the chiropractors to make a legitimate claim to the work, he officially turned his back on his profession in 1996 after having won the Texas Chiropractic College's Centennial Award in 1995. Basically, he was sick of their stunted paradigm and after realizing that he was not going to be allowed to affect the chiropractic standard he outright opposed them the last five years of his life and stood with me in spirit when I approached them back in 2001 in order to cause his research to be officially recognized as a separate field from chiropractic. If chiropractic will ever have the official scientific, moral, and yes even legal, right to claim Dr. Craton's research, then the chiropractic field must approach me personally in order for me to 1) educate them properly, and 2) authenticate their knowledge of his life's work. Any such request will be posted here at such time that such a request would exist. Until then, chiropractic is a fraud, and it's methodologies have been stolen from the osteopaths since D. D. Palmer, the founder of chiropractic, took everything he could from A. T. Still, the founder of osteopathy. The only reason why chiropractic has been able to establish itself apart from osteopathy is that Still referred to the 'abnormal' condition of the spine as lesions and Palmer referred to the same condition as vertebral subluxations. Today and historically, chiropractic's and osteopathy's primary focus is on the spine itself. Our primary focus is on the joints directly around the spine, and, we recognize the so-called 'abnormal' curvature of the spine to be a normal compensation for other mentioned causes.
See also: ATLAS FACETS AXIS SKULL O/A JOINTS TEXTBOOK ERRORS|
Cranial - Vertebral Reported by: Earl F.
Craton, D.C., Ph.C. The two following autopsies were initiated by my grandson, Joel E. Miller, age 27, who plans on entering Chiropractic College this fall. He has been impressed with my consistant clinical results from my special technique of Occipital Condyle Adjustment. He has discussed this with the Osteopathic College, trying to establish proof of my contentions and was eventually referred to Dr. James Carnes, Ph.D., Professor of Gross Anatomy of the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, located in Fort Worth. Dr. Carnes was interested in establishing proof of the anatomical design and function of the Occipital Condyles and Atlas Articulating Facets, sufficiently to offer him the opportunity to view a dissection of these articulations by himself in the TCOM's dissecting laboratory. A date of February 27, 1985 at 2:00 P.M. was agreed upon and I was invited to participate. The following is a report on this event: The cadaver was an elderly white male. The muscles and ligaments were cut away from the occiput to the mid cervical region. The right mastoid process and right transverse of the atlas was sawed away to expose the lateral border of the right lateral mass of the atlas. The exposed capsular ligament was cut sufficiently to pry the occiput slightly apart from the atlas lateral mass. The outline of the articulating facets were visible but no connecting occipital/atlas ligament was in evidence (this proved one of my postulations to be in error). Further forceful prying broke the posterior arch of the atlas but allowed a greater internal view of the facet articulations. The only mobility we were able to elicit was an anterior to posterior and posterior to anterior rocking of the condyles in flexion and extension, which is considered to be a normal kinetic function. One to two millimeters of synkinesis in all directions of rotation and lateral inclination was present and confirmed a flexibility in all directions of the articulation independent of the kinetic functions. A complete separation of the facet articulations that removed the cranium from the spine allowed us to compare articulation sizes and shapes. It was obvious the two condyle/glenoid groove articulations were unequal in size area and vertical dimensions. The condyles had side slipped to the right on the atlas glenoid grooves and had also rotated in a clock wise direction. The left condyle/glenoid groove articulation was less mobile than on the right and therefore, less erosion of the cartilage plates had occurred. The right anterior facet was approximately 30% eroded, presenting rough and jagged borders. Time consumed for this dissection was one hour and thirty-five minutes. On March 20th we did a two hour and thirty-five minute dissection on another elderly white male cadaver but spent more time and care in obtaining evidence of occipital flexion and extension on the atlas and video taped this mobility and architectural design of the condyle/atlas articulations. The muscles of flexion and extension were cut away from the cranial base and cervical spine to the leval of C6 and the greater portion of the occiput and spine to C6 was separated in one section from the cadaver. This section then was manually moved under video camera to record the various directions and degrees of occipital/atlas mobility in simulated kinetic functions and the degree of synkinesis the ligaments would allow in flexion, extension, lateral inclination and rotation of this entire occipital/cervical section. The video recording confirmed the kinetic functions of the occipital/C1 articulations were limited to only flexion and extension without anterior to posterior or posterior to anterior slide but did rock from a stable hinge point fixed at the condyle apex/para glenoid groove area. Mobility between C1 and C2 was limited to approximately fifteen degrees of rotation to the right and a like degree to the left, with slight lateral inclination to either side of one to two degrees. The balance of the cervical section was near stable with only one to three degrees of flexibilty and rotation. One must view the video to appreciate this limited mobility. The capsular ligaments of the occiput/C1 joint were cut away from the anterior borders until we could slowly pry them apart exposing the tearing of ligaments and membranes that held these articulations in functional relationship. Under video recording we observed the facet separations and there was evidence of an auxiliary ligament coming laterally off of the capsular ligament that invaded the paraglenoid space from both sides of the lateral masses but did not join together in the paraglenoid grooves. This is the hinging anchor of the condyles on the glenoid grooves. There was a difference in area size of the two condyles/glenoid groove surfaces which would result in a difference in articular mobility. The least mobile articulation exhibited the least erosion of the cartilage plates. A condyle side slip with a counter clock wise rotation had caused the variable erosion and size. The cranial nerves IX, X and XI could be compromised after their exit from the jugular foramen because of the counter clock wise condyle rotation on the atlas. The positional atlas/axis relationship appeared to be normal. It is glaringly evident the illustrations appearing in our medical anatomy texts do not accurately depict the architectural design of the occipital/atlantal articulations. This has contributed to unrealistic concepts of this joint's type and range of mobility. The evidence of an auxiliary ligament arising from the lateral borders of the capsular ligaments and encroaching into the paraglenoid grooves should be further investigated. The manner in which we forced and tore the condyles from the atlas lateral masses could have broken any continuous ligametnts in the paraglenoid grooves before the video camera could focus in this area. Thin horizontal slicing in this Cranial-Vertebral-Junction (CVJ) from above downward would be more revealing than the method we used. My grandson and I are indebted to the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine for the cadavers and use of their dissecting laboratories and to James Carnes, Ph.D., for his expertise and the time spent performing these dissections and allowing us to participate and video record our March 20th procedures. It is my opinion these dissections establish several
important facts relative to positional derangement of the
occipital condyles on the atlas glenoid grooves and a
resulting degeneration of ligaments, cartilage plates and
facets; all of which is contributory to compomising nerve
signal transmission and blood supply in this area, such as: The M & K Enterprises, Inc. are dedicated to excellence of clinical expertise and invite your requests for supportive literature regarding the above. Taped review of the March 20th dissection, with technique demonstrations and rehabilitative programs are available. About the author: Earl F. Craton, D.C., Ph.C., is a graduate of Palmer College who has practiced in Oklahoma and Texas. |
See also:
Complete list of published articles
This page was first posted on January 9, 2003 and last revised on January 9, 2022.
