Neurokinetic Therapy is muscle testing that tests the Motor Control Center of your brain. The motor control center is the big computer of our brain. When I test the muscles, I am not looking for strength, I am looking to see whether or not your brain recognizes the function of a muscle. If it does not recognize the function of a muscle, I test the other muscles that are related to it in order to find what is compensating for it. I work on the muscle that is compensating for it and that gets the non-functioning muscle, functioning again.
When muscle becomes tight, it is often to create stability for the body with unhealthy and painful compensation patterns. Working out the tight muscle, without knowing what stability it is trying to create, can sometimes cause more harm than good. Neurokinetic therapy assesses where the unhealthy stability is really coming from, in order to get your body to remain stable in a healthy, pain free way.
Why I offer this technique:
Working directly on a non-functioning muscle, which is commonly done in traditional therapeutic massage, can create dependency. It will not hold its new position and the pain and dysfunction will continue to come back. Also, the more often a non-functioning muscle is directly worked on, the more the other muscles will try to come in and compensate. This is a vicious cycle of frustration on the part of anyone going through pain. I have seen posture become corrected from just getting muscles functioning again. Also, clients report a reduction in pain once the right connections are made.
The nervous system rules everything. Neurokinetic therapy works directly with the brain to correct dysfunctional movement patterns. Tight muscle can stay tight, no matter how much massage or stretching that you do, if there are dysfunctional movement patterns present.
Neurokinetic Therapy vs. Traditional Deep Tissue Massage:
My observation as a therapist: 80-90% of my client base who used to see me for the same thing over and over again, without getting any better, responded very favorably to neurokinetic therapy with long term results. I am constantly getting emergency phone calls from people who have either used a massage tool on themselves or received a traditional deep tissue massage, due to increase in pain days later.
My observation as a client: Whenever I have received a traditional deep tissue massage, since experiencing the neurokinetic therapy difference, the traditional deep tissue massage would bring back pain and dysfunction that I had forgotten that I used to have, then my neurokinetic therapist would have to fix what they did. I had very gentle massage of the neck, shoulders and arms during a facial and when I got up off of the table, I was walking crooked and my chiropractor had to fix it.
Neurokinetic therapy and traditional soft tissue work can contradict each other and cancel each other out. It only takes a split second to unintentionally shut motor control back off, if non functioning soft tissue is being worked on directly.
Who should consider this treatment:
Those experiencing musculoskeletal pain.
Those with a neurological disorder (neurokinetic therapy works with the nervous system)
Those who seem to keep hitting a brick wall with the results of traditional therapeutic massage.
Examples of some compensation patterns that I have found:
Jaw compensating for the hip. The client sees me for hip pain, but also mentioned vertigo. My Rapid Adhesion Release manual mentioned misaligned jaw can cause symptoms of vertigo and tinnitus. She normally gets dizzy enough to need to hold onto me when getting up off of the massage table. Her hip starting feeling better the next day and when she got up from the massage table after her session, she did not need to hold onto me.
Those who have had strokes many years ago are regaining muscle function such as walking easier.
Drop foot from neuropathy regained some function.
One person with scoliosis symptoms, from tight soft tissue, had that worked out with manual therapy a few years ago. Even though it straightened out his spine, it didn't do anything for the pain. Neurokinetic therapy evaluation was consistent with spinal curvature. His brain still thought he had scoliosis. Neurokinetic therapy is the only treatment that has given him pain relief.
I have found the neck compensating for long term chronic foot pain. Two people with years worth of chronic foot pain got relief when I worked on their neck.
I have found the abdominals compensating for a locked hip.
I have found the shoulder pain caused by non functioning glutes. I often find lower body or core being a culprit for neck and shoulder tension. A back rub will not do anything for that.
I have found the neck compensating for the abdominals.
The way that we breathe is a big deal, so the diaphragm can commonly compensate for the core. This is also common with pelvic floor issues such as incontinence.
Abdominal scars from surgery shutting down the entire core. I have done scar release to successfully get the core muscles functioning again. Very common with C-sections and hysterectomies.
Plantar faciitis symptoms from non functioning glutes. Surprise, plantar faciitis has nothing to do with the feet.
Scars can often compensate for muscles and cause dysfunction. One person walked out of her first session no longer needing her cane with a combination of reiki, scar release and neurokinetic therapy.