reprogram your muscles with neural kinetic therapy

[ZorroSF]

so I've been falling to the bottom of the forum because of my lack of participation, but my recovery from prodisc at L5S1 has been a failure and losing my insurance hasn't helped. I'm probably 4 times worse now and have herniated another disc in my thorassic, have a disc bulge at c7-t1 and two other sore discs in my thorassic.

fun stuff!

anyhow not to piss and moan, but you can imagine my desperation. I have come across a new therapy here in los angeles that reprograms your muscles and aids in preventing you from overcompensating with other muscles. Anybody who has chronic pain has muscular overcompensation going on. not always extreme, but you never know until you go through Neural Kinetic Therapy.

NKT is not like Active Release therapy at all. Instead the therapist trains your brain to fire the electical stimulus to the proper muscles, preventing it from getting rerouted to another muscle an causing you to compensate that can lead to more issues down the line.

After 6 years of chronic pain and being unemployed for the last 3 years because I can't even work part-time thanks to my worsening condition, I have now become the world's biggest skeptic/pessimist. Well that is until I underwent 3 days of NKT.

NKT is not muscle massage, not chiropractic, not active release. But I gotta say this stuff works and I swear everyone on this forum in pain will get instant relief after their first visit. This is a great therapy that can be used on it's own, but I complement it with Gyrotonic therapy and my rehab has finally been moving forward the last 3 weeks. For 2 years I was too crippled to advance my rehab because my muscles were too locked up to properly articulate my joint movement.

I am not the type to advertise a product or service unless I know it can help everyone. Well this is it. the problem with finding someone who is excellent at it can be difficult.

There was a school in the San Francisco bay area that was a training center for NKT, but I think it closed and many of the specialists went their own way. Luckily I found one in Los Angeles by sheer dumb luck.

Here's some more info on Neural Kinetic therapy and the guy I see in West Hollywood at Harmony Studios;

http://www.advancedbodymechanics.com/index.html

He has a N. Hollywood location, but he wants to close it down soon.

Once again I have to stress this is scientific and not wacko muscle massage or accupunture hippy garbage. I have a feeling that this technique will be taught to all physical therapist in their training schools within 10 years.

[cls]

Zorro,

Sorry to hear your on going struggles but nice to hear that you may have found something that helps. Would you mind describing a typical Neural Kinetic Therapy session? I would be interested in understanding the techniques used. I'm not sure who to go about finding someone qualified in this type of therapy so it would be good to know what to look for in terms of how it is done. I know that I have been compensating greatly and feel the affects of this.

Thanks and may you find a solution soon ---cls

[Harrison]

Please tell us more! Meconn, if you are out there, you may be interested in this based on a few of your posts.

But wait Zorro...10 years before it gets anywhere?! That would be a shame, if this is as helpful to spine patients as it has been for you. BTW, what the hell does this mean:

"...wacko muscle massage or accupunture hippy garbage..."

[ZorroSF]

Physical Therapy is a lot like ortho-surgery. it takes 5-10 years for a positive technique to be adopted by the medical community. Just look at how long ADR is taking ot be adopted. The idea has been around for decades, but only when big corporations get involved is it being pushed forward into the mainstream. In fact just look at Active Release therapy, or Active Stretching. It took a long time for them to be adopted, and you can argue they never really were adopted by the medical community. The same goes with NKT. Only when many people have been treated successfully will it take off.

A typical initial session goes like this; you speak with the therapist about your chronic pain and how you think it was caused and what has been happening to you of late. that's about 15min. The next 45 min the therapist will be testing your movement by asking you to push against his/her opposing force. After 10 min of localizing the cause the therapist will perform a massage/myofacial release/whatever it takes to release a particulair area that is bound up and preventing you from firing the correct muscles. After the muscle release he/she then tests you all over again. This is where you immediately notice that the compensating movement is gone and you're firing the correct muscles again.

In my case I'm so f.u.b.a.r. that I could be in there for 2 hours until the therapist is satisfied. But of course the session is only one hour. I kid you not, for spine patients the therapist is working non-stop for that one hour. What's great is when you come across a therapist who is an ace with anatomy and can pinpoint the misfire even though you could have misfires all over your body.

again I suggest you read my therapist's website;
http://www.advancedbodymechanics.com/nmr.html

it does an excellent job of explaining the specifics. Plus if you live in Los Angeles he guarantees his work for your first session. If you call him up and explain your issues and he takes you on as a client then after that first session if you're not satisfied you can tell him why and not be stuck with the bill.

BTW "...wacko muscle massage or accupunture hippy garbage..." means that it is not a science and you can dump a boatlode of cash down the drain and still not feel any better than when you first started. Might work for some and not others, is not worth flushing $100 a session down the drain.

@CLS
I found my therapist Jeff through my Gyrotonic instructor. I was at my wits end and desperately needed a massage. I figured the worst that could happen is that I burn another $100 bill. not a wise thing to do, but lucky for me it paid off. I suggest doing a google search for Neural Kinetic Therapy and the city you live in. Since it was developed on the west coast, I ASSume you would have an easier time finding someone on the west coast as opposed to the east coast. I'll ask my therapist if he knows of a database of professionals.

[Harrison]

Got it Zorro.

It also reminds me what I read years ago in the "Trigger Point Therapy WorkBook," so it is making sense. Question: During your session(s), did they find and release trigger points...then tell you what they were doing when they did it?

Good luck with your next sessions. And thx again for sharing.

[ZorroSF]

well the guy I see is very well knowledged in muscle therapies and he performs whatever is needed to release the contracted muscle. that can entail trigger point, myofacial release, deep tissue, active stretching, active release, etc... However I have only seen him 3 times and I am supposedly an onion with many layers. he just peels back layers everytime I visit. the more he peels back the more permanent the therapy becomes and the need to see him reduces. I think for me it will take 2-3 months once a week. In fact I am now starting to see why I have adult onset scoliosis and how I can begin to reverse it with gyro/pilates/PT after an NKT session. It's amazing what you can do with your body when you start getting rid of old postural habits and removing trauma tissue from the puzzle.

[gregfin_2001]

http://www.muscleactivation.com/

I had similar results with MAT. They taught me exercises to re-activate the muscles that I have problems with. This process trains the brain to keep them activated.

I also went to a movement seminar which the Lady who taught it would essentially teach you how to be self aware and not need any muscles to keep the spine aligned. In other words instead of engaging the core muscles like pilates you were taught how to align the spine where it did not need the support. This was very interesting.

I do agree PT and Chiro's not accepting alternative treatments. I could barely walk for two months while seeing a chiro and some guy who did the MAT treatments in the back room of a gym had me going in two sessions.

[ZorroSF]

This is the history of Neural Kinetic Therapy.
http://www.advancedbodymechanics.com/nmr.html

Neuro Kinetic Therapy is a completely new concept in bodywork. It is based on a chiropractic technique called Applied Kinesiology

I have seen that MAT website before, but it's interesting that the founder Greg Roskopf is from the Bay Area and implies he created MAT (ASSuming this is the same technique). It would be a very amazing coincidence if he figured it out on his own, meanwhile 25 years ago David Weinstock figured it out too.

this does sound like what I am involved in right now. this is the guy that's helping me;
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffelamnkt

It doesn't really matter who created it, but it's confusing for patients to figure out who to rely on.

[gregfin_2001]

According to MAT website : http://www.muscleactivation.com/vs.html

"Greg Roskopf and Craig Buhler have worked together for 10 years in conjunction with the Utah Jazz and the Denver Broncos....

While Craig developed ChiroMAT™, a neurologically based program designed for chiropractors. Although these programs are different, they both evolved through a similar philosophical foundation. ChiroMAT™ and MAT™ are separate programs, however, Greg and Craig are working together in taking the steps to spread their philosophies across the country "

My biggest issue with this technique is yes it helps instantly, but since my nerves lock up my muscles any activation goes away relatively soon after the treatments. In the end I use this in my toolbox to help with my back. If I am in a lot of pain for extended period of time then I go in for help.

Please keep us informed how things are going.

[ZorroSF]

you need to read the bio on greg. he's from fresno california and turned to the field physical therapy to learn about imbalances. This is a technique that has been known to chiropractors for quite some time, but has never been properly mastered and scientifically quantified. MATS doesn't necessarily require any therapist. that's why I would question that program. it's seriously lacking, but I will look into it some more to figure out the facts instead of opinion.

I found out the MATS technique is really only half the program of NKT. NKT focuses not only on rebalance, but to maintain that new balance after the session is over. IF the balance cannot be maintained it's because of joint degeneration, and there's nothing any therapist can do to help you with that.

Well that is until I came across NKT and decided to push the boundaries. I am now forcing the NKT therapist and my Gyrotonic therapist to work back to back. I know my joints from my bunion all the way to my cervical region are FUBAR on the right half of my body. No matter if I see a deep tissue massage therapist or a highly trained pilates and gyro specialist, I will always hit a ceiling that will prevent me from truly rehabilitating my muscle atrophy because my body is horribly locked up.

By going back to back I can release all the tension that is built up from imbalances allowing me to work on the muscles that are in atrophy. I have never felt such muscle soreness in those areas that were released until recently.

By figuring out a proper and concise workflow I can pinpoint areas to work on at a reduced time and reduced pay rate. only problem is getting the two therapists together. They both have busy lives and it's nearly impossible to get them back to back.