One of My Favorite Osteopathic Stories

I have seen a lot of strange cases in the past, but I specifically remember this one for its peculiarity and humor. Jennifer brought her daughter in to see me. Along with her daughter, came Jennifer’s brother and her mother to the appointment. Jennifer’s brother and mother were already patients of mine, but the whole family coming to the appointment made me curious what I was going to encounter. “This must be something major,” I thought.

“So what can I help you with?” I asked.

“Well, my daughter has dark circles under her eyes. Can you help with that?” asked Jennifer.

Dark circles? Surely, there must be more. They couldn’t have just brought her in because of dark circles in her eyes. So I probed. I asked about diseases, illnesses, and anything else I could think of. At the end of my barrage of questions, it was my conclusion that Jennifer brought in her daughter along with some relatives so that I could treat the dark circles in her eyes possibly due to sinus issues.

Certainly this was not what I expected, but that was okay. Because osteopathy is customized from patient to patient and visit to visit, I have to approach this like any other patient of mine. I have to analyze the person, figure out what’s wrong, and how it may be causing her symptoms. Then I have to help her body correct those issues in order to normalize tissues that are not working correctly.

So as I assessed Jennifer’s daughter, one of the first places I felt I needed to address was her tailbone, the sacrum. Her sacrum was jammed and wedged between her pelvic bones. The sacrum can act like an anchor on the skull. If it is pulled down, it will tug on the bones of the skull from below through a specialized membrane called dura mater. This could create the scenario where sinuses would be unable to drain properly. As I felt her sacrum release, I could see some of the tension in her face releasing.

“Wow. Look, her eyes already look a little better,” mentioned the grandmother.

Once I felt the sacrum moving well and not feeling anchored, I ended up focusing on the skull. Her face felt compressed and there were areas that needed to be released. My goal was to release compression along certain places that prevented the blood to drain properly out of Jennifer’s daughter’s head and ultimately, her eyes. As I released the back of her skull and neck, I could see changes taking place throughout her face

Feeling satisfied and having noticed some good changes, I asked Jennifer’s daughter to sit up. As she sat up, her family started analyzing her face in amazement. I’ve never seen a family notice so many changes before.

“Her eyes look much different.” commented Jennifer’s brother.

“The bridge of her nose doesn’t look so sunken in,” said the grandmother, “Her face looks different. Is that possible?”

“Of course,” I replied, “Isn’t that why you brought her?”

I ended up seeing Jennifer’s daughter one more time. On the second visit, I was hearing about how not only were the dark circles improved, but a little bit about how they had noticed some changes in her personality. I didn’t really understand the extent of what had taken place until after the second visit, when she posted the following on my website:

“MIRACULOUS! In March 2014 I brought my 8 year-old daughter to Doctor Lopez hoping to eliminate the chronic dark circles under her eyes that I felt were a result of a sinus issue. She is a mouth breather with a tendency to have sinus obstruction. She began having chronic sinus congestion last spring that we were able to resolve with supplementation, but the awful dark circles remained. Her face was pale with purple smudges under her eyes. The results after two visits have been nothing short of astonishing. Immediately after the first visit, I could see that somehow Dr. Lopez had actually subtly changed my daughter’s facial structure with his manipulations. Her face was broader and the bridge of her nose was not so sunken in. About two weeks later, the circles under her eyes began to resolve and after the second treatment, they have virtually disappeared. Her face now has a healthy bloom and color that I see in other children and wished I would see in my pale, pinched looking child. Her entire demeanor has also changed. She is more lively and happy with a force of character that she never had before. She always had a reserved, somewhat nervous disposition. Her teacher has even remarked that she has “come out of her shell!” Not only is her face healthier looking, but her body has filled out and she is going through an unprecedented growth spurt. In the last two months, she has grown out of clothing that she had worn for the last year. She is small for her age with a slow growth rate but I think that has changed. She’s grown an inch since we last measured her in January. When we first met with Dr. Lopez, I also told him that my daughter suffered from chronic constipation. Since the second appointment, she is going every day!!! Unheard of! We are so glad to have found Dr. Lopez.” Jennifer

I love this story because it is reminder of how much things can change in a person’s life. I don’t usually get to see a family interact and point out all of the differences they see. Osteopathy is powerful and I love hearing from patients when we can turn a despondent situation into one of hope and happiness. It is amazing to hear how a person’s life can change so dramatically when we get their anatomy working correctly.