The Common Compensatory Pattern: Its Origin and Relationship to the Postural Model

The AAO Journal/19 ➻ Introduction J. Gordon Zink, DO1 was the originator of the term Common Compensatory Pattern (CCP). He used the term to describe commonly found patterns of dysfunction in the body (neuromyofascial-skeletal unit2 ) as a whole. Several other physicians3-6 before and since, have also described recurring patterns of dysfunction found in their patient populations. Dr. Zink, however, is considered to be “... the first to provide a written, understandable, and clinically useful explanation for treatment, with a method of diagnosing and manipulative methods of treating the fascial patterns of the body.”7 Zink himself considered these concepts to be the basis of a respiratory and circulatory care model.2 As osteopathic clinicians we frequently find recurrent patterns of fascial bias, postural asymmetry, somatic dysfunction, and functional disturbances. We frequently see a clinically short right leg, a cephalad pubes dysfunction on the left, a posterior ilium on the left and an anterior ilium on the right. Patients regularly display a left-on-left sacral torsion with L-5, side bent left and rotated right as well. These are just a few of many commonly found somatic dysfunctions; the list is long. Radiographically, with our patients’ postural studies, we can find recurring patterns of postural asymmetry that includes the anatomic The Common Compensatory Pattern: Its Origin and Relationship to the Postural Model