Meet Carolyn Inabinet
Patient, Piano Teacher, Author and StoryTeller
Debussy | Clair de Lune
Pascal Rogé
Carolyn Inabinet, author of The Cranial Connection (1986), is a patient advocate walking in ‘two worlds of medicine’ .
StoryTelling exemplifies evidence-based medicine and is integrated with up-to-date information on an unconventional and misunderstood medical model, Osteopathy in the Cranial Field.
Ms. Inabinet is the Director/Owner and primary piano instructor at Music Works Community, an alliance of piano teachers located in Phoenix, AZ since 1974. A nationally certified teacher of music (NCTM), Carolyn is the creator of an ‘Out-of-the Box’ method for beginning piano instruction PianoFonics and is also co-author of The FJH Studio Organizer (2002) and Practice and Progress (1992).
THEN
45 Years and Counting
When I was 25 years old, an unknown, undiscovered, unidentified injury happened during a sinus surgery. An intubation injury in the throat with an anesthetic awareness experience remained Nameless and Wordless for 25 years.
Within five years of this initial insult, a second childbirth resulted in a herniated disc and two unsuccessful back surgeries. A devastating diagnosis entered my life: degenerative disc disease. An even more upsetting prognosis accompanied the diagnosis: the eventual fusion of my entire spine. I later learned the spine was fused one inch anterior. My body as well as my life was thrown ‘out of balance’.
Within three years of the back surgeries during a routine dental examination, equilibration (grinding) of a tooth triggered unrelenting facial pain with subsequent mismanagement of TMJ.
The label of ‘chronic pain patient’ enabled me to join “The Basket Case Club” by the time I was 32 years old. And thus began my medical adventure. While walking in the world of Unknown Diagnosis without a map or a compass, I discovered a territory named IATROGENESIS*.
An entrance to a “Road Less Traveled” revealed itself; and, in February, 1981, I set foot on a journey that led me into an unfamiliar and unconventional realm of medicine: Osteopathy in the Cranial Field.
*Iatrogenesis
harm brought forth by unintended adverse patient outcome
because of a health care intervention.
The world of Cranial Osteopathy
as the primary form of medical care in my life progressed gradually, simply because there were no answers or help elsewhere.
I did not have a ‘disease’ to treat with surgery or medication.
The limitations of surgery, pharmaceuticals, and medical specialization were surpassed by an integrated approach
to body structure and functioning.
The Whole is greater
than the sum of the Parts.
What was done in the name
of medicine and dentistry,
and that which could be undone,
slowly unfolded.
…in hindsight,
a truly inconceivable and amazing journey with a story that must be told.
My extraordinary experiences with Cranial Osteopathic treatment not only sparked curiosity but also generated intense motivation. I wanted to understand how this doctor was facilitating the amazing changes that were happening in my body. I wanted to become an Osteopath.
The Genesis of The Cranial Connection
A fine arts degree in music was not preparation for medical school. In 1984, I enrolled in pre-med courses at Arizona State University to meet undergraduate pre-requisites for application to Osteopathic medical school. An elective graduate physiological psychology course required a research paper. Thanks to a referral from an Osteopath, a neighborhood osteopathic hospital with a library opened their doors to me and my research was simplified. This paper was The Cranial Connection; my professor was most interested in the content and served as the first ‘editor.’
I received permission to use illustrations for my research paper from John Upledger, DO and author of Craniosacral Therapy. I had been a ‘demo patient’ for Dr. Upledger in his Phoenix workshop. My applied anatomy coursework was not in the classroom at ASU.
This was the era before computers and internet. I had rented a Selectric typewriter to type the paper for my class requirement. This was also the era of my divorce. The paper not only reached the mediation courts of Phoenix but also the American Academy of Osteopathy (AAO) Convocation. The Cranial Connection and my stacks of articles became my defense during a nine-month mediation court saga in a custody battle with my attorney-husband to prove my ‘competency as a parent’. The AAO Convocation evolved into an unexpected outcome as well.
Shared custody was granted. Differences of opinion in the 1980’s did not mean incompetence.
This paper ‘attended’ the AAO Convocation in the hands of my osteopath who was most appreciative of my research project. The positive response of his colleagues prompted the publication of The Cranial Connection (1986). This synthesis of published material became a professional introduction to the anatomical and physiological basis of Osteopathy in the Cranial Field. Osteopathic medical schools offered copies in their book stores and it was used as an introductory text for over a decade at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. The AAO invited me to their Seattle convocation where they hosted a “Meet the Author” recognition reception. Over the next several years, around 5,000 copies circulated around the world. I received notes of thanks from medical doctors, osteopaths and dentists as far away as Australia, China, Austria, Germany and Brazil.
I never became an Osteopath. Life had radically changed in the five years following my introduction to Osteopathy. The Cranial Connection reached more health care professionals than patients I could have treated had I been able to place the letters D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathy) after my name.
Instead, I created a music school with a primary focus on piano instruction for all ages, 3 – 93. For forty-five years, I have taught hundreds of students – both children and adults – how to use their hands in a very different way than if I had learned how to treat patients.
Both open the doorway to Harmony, in the Body and in the Soul.
May Song
Enrique Granados
HANDS OF HARMONY
The hand is a miraculous creation.
What do an Osteopath and a Piano Teacher have in common?
TOUCH
The artistry of ten fingers flowing across piano keys is audible and visible…
vibrations of Sound the ears can hear and the eyes can see.
The artistry of ten fingers palpating the body is silent and invisible…
vibrations of Silence that the body can feel and the mind can sense.
Both exemplify the exceptional, the remarkable, the extraordinary.
Music evokes a ‘felt’ sense beyond words. Palpation elicits a ‘felt’ sense beyond belief.
Initially, there was no belief or faith…only skepticism and doubt. Time after time, inconceivable surprises cultivated a Trust – in the process, in my body and in the doctor. From these experiential moments flowed a Knowing. And, thus a metamorphosis began that fashioned faith and later became Conviction and Certitude.
And a different Reality materialized.
“You believe only when you
do not know.
Belief and doubt are
equal terms.”
Andrew Taylor Still,
founder of Osteopathy
An unimaginable and phenomenal Paradox
was unveiled during these years of medical mayhem:
there has been a progressive ‘unraveling’ of complex medical trauma over the years.
1- Vitality and resilience materialized rather than deterioration and debilitation.
furthermore,
2- this reversal or ‘unwinding’ was accomplished through the art of palpation
…TOUCH.
Communication ‘in-between’ Doctor and Patient
…the insightful and remarkable perception of the causation of the patient’s condition
by the Osteopath… and the treatment and recovery that followed.
…a ‘counter’ entropic phenomenon for the patient that not only treated the
condition but also generated improvement of overall health.
This is why I have become a StoryTeller
…and not just my story, but other amazing stories.
OUR GOAL
The Cranial Connection Paradigm
reveals the value and serves to validate
the Osteopathic Cranial Concept legacy
and the results of Osteopathy in the Cranial Field.
The misinformation and misinterpretation
of this medical concept and specialty continues to remain
undervalued and discredited.
THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE
Welcome to a journey on a “Road Less Traveled”
into vitality and health with a Piano Teacher and an Osteopath.
Discover a different perspective with remarkable possibilities.
Witness the unfolding of Radical Optimism.
Explore the Extraordinary and the Surprising.
rejuvenation, rehabilitation, repair, restoration, regeneration
after the Silence of the ‘Before’
THE BEFORE BEGINS
