Dr. William Garner Sutherland DO (1873 –  1954)  was a student of Dr. A. T. Still.  Dr. Sutherland spent his entire career studying the primary respiratory mechanism, the cranium, brain and cerebral spinal fluid.  Out of his sixty-five years of dedicated, intense, study and practice emerged a tremendous contribution to osteopathy and humanity which has become known today as osteopathy in the cranial field.  The term osteopathy in the cranial field can be misleading as this scientific branch of osteopathy is not just about the cranium and head, though many of Dr. Sutherlands discoveries arose out of his study of the head.

Osteopathy in the cranial field is a highly specialised study and co-operation with the inherent healing forces and universal laws that are both palpable and observable in nature and the human organism.  It is also the study of subtle rhythmic motions within nature known in osteopathy as primary respiration – primary because it precedes thoracic respiration and is as essential to all of life as oxygen and breathing.  Dr. Sutherland’s work is a major contribution and advancement in osteopathy and applies to all areas of the body not just the cranium.  The term osteopathy in the cranial field is a historic remnant and acknowledgement of Dr. Sutherland’s tremendous contributions and life long dedication to osteopathy.

The cerebro-spinal fluid is one of the highest known elements that are contained in the body, and unless the brain furnishes this fluid in abundance, a disabled condition of the body will remain. He who is able to reason will see that this great river of life must be tapped and the withering field irrigated at once, or the harvest of health be forever lost. —A. T. Still M.D. Philosophy and Mechanical Principles of Osteopathy

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“The goal with your patients is to find the way to healthy function within the mechanism that they bring to you. Study the Life principle and come closer to understanding what I mean by the “Breath of Life.” To the digger who will take time to dream and the dreamer who will wake up and dig, the science of osteopathy will unfold into a magnitude equal to that of the heavens.”—William Garner Sutherland, DO