Research
During the realization of somato-emotional techniques we recorded the electrical activity of the brain at the cortical level thanks to an EEG (electroencephalogram). The preliminary results obtained are unprecedented and presage new discoveries.
Indeed a unihemispheric sleep appears during the 10/15 minutes of integration of the stimulated information.
This type of sleep has only been observed in marine mammals or migratory birds to allow them to continue swimming, breathing on the surface or flying while resting.
Here it suggests a management of emotional information made mainly by one of the two hemispheres at the same time. Some patients presented a unihemispheric sleep of the right part, other left part of the brain.
Attached is the summary of the article being written.
Other work is underway in order to accredit this type of technique at the level of osteopathy but also of science in general.
Pilot project for the analysis of central neurological reactions by electroencephalogram in response to tissue stimuli targeted at emotional somatizations.
Authors
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Carpentieri Olivier, Osteopath DO
Doctor Saint Jean Jean-Claude, MD, Neurologist
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Key words
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Osteopathy, neurology, electroencephalogram (EEG), somato-emotional, manual therapy, unihemispheric, unilateral sleep, brain waves
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Abstract
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Osteopathy is part of the panel of complementary medicine which allows to approach the therapy under a more global aspect than allopathic medicine. In doing so, it must bring the necessary evidence to the scientific world in order to be able to dialogue in a common frame of reference.
However, the diversity of the techniques used and the major part that the therapist has in the practice complicate the implementation of protocols and their analysis. The results of the existing research are promising but do not allow today to establish osteopathy in the circle of the great medicines from an evidence-based point of view.
The aim of this pilot project is both to validate the therapeutic action of a protocol still little referenced in the osteopathic field and to explore the neurological reactions involved in osteopathic treatment while highlighting the existence of an emotional link between the viscera and the brain. The use of the electroencephalogram (EEG), a standardized tool of modern medicine, has proven to be a reliable, accessible and minimally invasive means of exploration to provide the first concrete results.
EEGs performed on a panel of four patients aged 24 and 45 years and of both sexes revealed unihemispheric sleep mechanisms induced by recoil techniques on areas of visceral tension suggested as emotional somatizations. Each hemisphere involved in the reaction manifested theta and delta waves, sigma spindles and for some subjects so-called "sawtooth" waves, characteristic of N2, N3 and paradoxical sleep only during the fifteen minutes of information integration.
These results initially validate the reality of these somatizations at the tissue level, but also the perception and action capacities of the therapist within a visceral structure. They also reveal mechanisms of integration of emotion/information across a dominant hemisphere that had never before been highlighted.
This opens up a wide field of research in osteopathy on the processes of lesion and their release, on their consequences within the different physiological systems and on the appearance and maintenance of pathologies. These promising results also make it possible to envisage randomized research protocols on a larger cohort of patients, particularly in neurophysiology, using more suitable investigation techniques (256-channel EEG, functional MRI, magnetoencephalography, PET Scan).
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Brain activity at rest
This electroencephalogram shows the brain activity of an individual at rest. The waves are identical between the 2 hemispheres, whether the eyes are open or closed.
The first 3 lines represent the right hemisphere, the next 3 represent the left hemisphere.
Onset of neural reaction after stimulation of emotional memories
A few minutes after having stimulated the emotional memories by recoils, one of the two hemispheres gradually switches into a slower activity and manifests theta waves.
Reintegration of emotional information
After a hemisphere has switched to theta, sigma bursts travel through the brain. Delta waves also appear, a sign of very slow activity only normally present in deep slow sleep. Sawtooth waves are also observed, characteristic of REM sleep.
All these changes in cerebral activity are both a sign that the osteopathic technique targeted on a specific visceral area induces a specific response at the cerebral level, and at the same time that the management of emotional information is managed by a hemisphere to that time.
Upcoming research
Neurostéo has just acquired a 32-channel EEG, the EPOC Flex from the company EMOTIV. This is a more precise Wireless EEG than that used for the preliminary study, some results of which are presented just above.
EPOC Flex is a validated EEG for experimental research. It is accompanied by a dedicated software which can provide the necessary data in order to avoid comparing the Alpha, Theta, and Delta waves of the 2 hemispheres.
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