The Cranial Facial Release, or CFR, is relatively unknown in France. It involves releasing the bones of the face of the skull, using a tiny balloon that is first delicately inserted into the nose (nasopharynx), then inflated using a bulb, in order to clear the ENT airways (and evacuate the Eustachian tube and the eardrum).

It acts on the different bones of the skull and their sutures, in order to optimize brain function, mainly on the pituitary gland housed in its sphenoid sella turcica (endocrine hormonal action).

It also helps to improve, drain and balance the pressures of the different intracranial fluids: the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid, which nourishes the meninges, the arteriovenous flow, as well as the lymph for the evacuation of waste.

It is a technique corresponding to an improved version of a treatment called Bilateral Nasal Specific, or BNS, founded by the chiropractor Richard STOBER, in the 1940s, which he used mainly in infants who had had a difficult delivery, with vertex presentation, and the use of forceps or suction cups, but also in children and adolescents who had learning difficulties at school (autism), or various neurological disorders. He died in 1987. This technique continued in the 1970s thanks to the work of Dr. John Upledger.

Today, CFR is practiced by American chiropractors, including Adam Del Torto, whom I had the chance to meet during a seminar in Germany, in Dusseldorf, and who taught me the technique.

It mainly treats respiratory disorders, particularly chronic sinusitis, often corresponding to the after-effects of head trauma, particularly in athletes, or to adhesions formed after surgical procedures.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of indications that respond favorably to CFR:

But the CFR can also be used for preventive purposes.

It could help prevent the onset of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease…

The nasal cavities in which the mini-balloon is inserted, are made up of 3 levels, separated by what are called the turbinates (the lower turbinate being as long as your index finger!)

: a lower level, a middle level and an upper level.

During a session, we will act on one level in each nostril. The patient must take a breath through the mouth, and hold his breath while inhaling, during the maneuver which lasts 3 to 4 seconds.

The protocol will therefore require 3 sessions, to be able to reach the 6 floors, ideally spaced 24 hours apart.

Despite a certain, clear and instantaneous improvement that is felt after a CFR session, it must be understood that the disorders that patients describe in their ENT sphere, have gradually set in over time, insidiously, or were masked by taking medication (cortisone, antihistamines, etc.) that no longer have any effect or that have triggered side effects, or even following the failure of one or more surgical procedures.

This is why it sometimes takes 4 or 5 series spaced several months apart to see an improvement, or even a total and definitive regression of the symptoms.