Massage Therapy

Neural Reset Therapy

Rapid Muscular Pain Relief by Working More Directly with the Nervous System
Neural Reset Therapy (NRT) is a practical, rapid, and reliable way to apply the scientific laws of physiology in an advanced form of manual therapy. Lawrence Woods, creator of NRT, derived this system from the work of Sherrington and Pflüger, two great scientists who investigated the nervous system more than a century ago. 

In physiology, the law of reciprocal inhibition and the law of symmetry have mostly remained in the laboratory until now.  We know muscles are controlled by the nervous system. Proper application of NRT resets the nervous system to release a muscle from excessive tension. With the release, the knots, pain, and tightness are gone. Joint mobility and posture are improved. 

All information in this description and following sections provided directly or with minor edits from materials written by Lawrence Woods. Visit neuralreset.net for additional information.

How is NRT different from the usual methods of massage, physical therapy, or chiropractic? 

• No massaging of muscles
• No deep pressure required
• No lotions or creams
• No facedown positions are required
• Done fully clothed 
• No stretching
• No need to touch the muscle being reset - can be done from the opposite side of the body
• No joint adjustments
• No needles
• No drugs or natural substances applied

How does this work?
In your body, there are specialized nerve bundles called mechanoreceptors. The receptors respond to pressure, velocity, vibration, stretch, and other forces. When receptors detect a change, a signal is sent to the spinal cord and then relayed to the brain. 

Lawrence also discovered that we can treat one side of the body by treating the opposite side instead. This is particularly powerful for post-operative patients as a way to improve recovery, treat scars, support organs, decrease bone pain, and treat ligament injury. 

With NRT, the therapist briefly stimulates the receptors embedded in the selected muscles by asking for a position to be held or a movement in a particular direction. Or the therapist taps on a muscle in such a way as to cause receptors to send a special message to the spinal cord. Different kinds or combinations of input could be required, such as tapping, vibration, jostling, or muscle contraction.

The new message goes through the spinal integrating center which will reset the nervous system so that the muscle is optimized neurologically. With the reset, the muscular pain and tightness disappear within seconds. 

In addition to muscle pain, NRT is an effective treatment for painful tendons, bones, teeth, and ligaments. The pelvic floor, likewise, can be treated without touching it. 

Who can benefit from this therapy?
Commonly, the following conditions improve greatly or disappear completely:

• Neck and back pain
• Muscle spasms
• Headaches, especially migraines
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• TMJ syndrome
• Tennis and golf elbow
• Pain from unknown causes
• Pain persisting long after the original trauma, including post-surgical pain
• Rotator cuff injury
• Sciatica-like pain
• Pelvic floor pain may be relieved without accessing the pelvic floor direclty

During each session, the therapist thoroughly checks each area of your body to locate any painful or tight places. Resets are performed for any dysfunctional muscles. The resets allow the muscles to return to a healthy state. Treatment sessions can be held up to twice per week, depending on the client's goals.

Barral's Manual Therapy

Barral Manual Therapies are the innovative manual therapies developed in clinical practice by world-renowned French Osteopath and Physical Therapist Jean-Pierre Barral. His development of Visceral Manipulation, Neural Manipulation, and New Manual Articular Approach as well as his on-going development of manual therapies has earned him an international reputation and established him as a leader in integrative, whole-person, manual therapy education, clinical services, and on-going research. These disciplines and techniques have been shown to increase the effectiveness of client treatments.

Descriptions and introduction adapted from The Barral Institute materials. For more information, visit The Barral Institute.

Visceral Manipulation
The connective tissue around organs is treated to reduce tension and pain, increasing flow of fluids and other materials. Sometimes, this is needed to free restrictions in the musculoskeletal system.

Visceroemotional treatment
Involves pent-up energy in tissues that was placed there in response to a traumatic event. Treatment focuses on the physical body first. Physical tension needs to be released before energetic and emotional work will stick. Then, a line of energy is sent the from brain to the organ and back. The physical imprint of the memory may also be treated in the brain. The entire process can generally be accomplished without the client reliving their trauma.

Neural Manipulation
Examines mechanical relationships between the cranium/spine hard frame to the dura and neural elements. It provides assessment and treatment approaches to address restrictions of the dural and neural components not commonly focused on with musculoskeletal symptoms. Neural Manipulation identifies and releases local nerve restrictions while at the same time examines the effect these local fixations have on the rest of the body, and by accessing this relationship, resolves the more comprehensive (global) dysfunctional patterns.

Visceral Vascular Manipulation
Helps release restrictions and adhesions of the Blood Vessels and improves their relationship with the organs and tissues they irrigate. Enhancing blood flow and re-establishing normal nutrition, detoxification, and oxygenation of the organs and tissues, helps the body regain its vitality and diminishes dysfunction and pain.  Vascular Manipulation works on releasing restrictions of the blood vessels and optimizing the blood flow to the tissues, organs/viscera and the Brain. Removing adhesions, torsions and blockages from the blood vessels increases the supply of greater nutrition and oxygenation to specific tissues and organs, enhancing local and general function, vitality, health, and comfort.

New Manual Articular Approach
"Articular" refers to the joints of the body, which are critical points of interconnectivity between all other structures within the body. Joints receive and emit messages with other parts of the body, and are also connected to our emotions. The New Manual Articular Approach (MAA) is a manual therapy modality that applies a comprehensive approach to the treatment of joints. It integrates all aspects of the joint including the nerve, artery, bone, capsule, and ligaments, as well as visceral and emotional connections. It examines the nerves of each joint, along with the arteries, meniscus, ligaments, capsule attachments and folds. It incorporates soft tissue mobilization of the associated bones, while looking at direct and indirect relationships between the bones of the body.

The relationship between the viscera and the joints is not widely understood. MAA shows how interconnected they are and that without addressing this visceral connection many joint issues may not fully resolve. The application of the gentle MAA techniques improves the body’s ability to heal and restore itself to optimal health. The Manual Articular Approach is a soft, hands-on manual therapy. Underneath the pain or diagnosis is a compensatory pattern created in the body with the initial source of the dysfunction often being far from where the pain is felt. A skilled MAA practitioner searches for this pattern and its source, evaluating the whole body and not just the problematic joint, and treats the related tissues.

MAA treatment is comprised of precise gentle engagement and soft tissue mobilization of the associated bones, while looking at direct and indirect relationships between the bones of the body. As the source of a problem is released, symptoms will start to decrease. Reaction and response time can vary with each Manual Articular Approach treatment.

Manual Approach to the Brain
Jean-Pierre Barral has been interested in the brain for over forty years. After treating many people with head trauma, stroke, brain diseases, and psychomotor disabilities, he has developed original techniques to help these patients. Manual Approach to the Brain (MAB) is a is a gentle manual therapy that addresses the brain and its associated nervous and vascular connections. The structural approach is aimed at the vascular, nervous, meningeal, ocular, barometric, and cerebrospinal fluid circulation systems. The functional approach explores the sense of smell, hearing, sight, language, coordination, proprioception, emotions, etc.  

Quantum Alignment Technique

Quantum Alignment Technique uses quantum-infused devices to make striking changes in the joints, organs, muscles and other tissues. It neutralizes trauma of all types for all parts of the body. This can result in seemingly miraculous effects. We can also reconnect or optimize muscles and other tissues to the brain. Many stroke clients and those with neuromuscular diseases will regain function of their muscles. There is also a procedure to reduce inflammation. The Emotional Transformation Technique has been exclaimed by clinical psychologists and a psychiatrist as the most powerful life-changing event they have experienced. All of this is done without the client saying anything. The devices connect the client to the quantum field, which supplies the energy and information necessary for the body to heal itself. The devices are not electromagnetic and have no running parts.

For more information, visit Quantum Alignment Technique.

Craniosacral Therapy SomatoEmotional Release

Craniosacral therapy includes SomatoEmotional Release for trauma treatment.

SER is the process that occurs spontaneously during a CranioSacral Therapy session, when the inner wisdom of the person on the table recognizes that enough resources are present to release some or all of the held trauma. What does this look like? It’s different for everyone, of course, but there can be some common factors. Often (but not always), the body will begin to assume the same position it was in when the injury occurred. This can also be accompanied by associated memories, including those which have been out of conscious awareness for years or even decades.

There may very well be overt emotional expression such as tears or laughter, but these are not necessarily a part of SER. Throughout the process, the therapist’s role is one of support, presence, and facilitation, as well as tracking changes in the body’s tissues. Sometimes, but not always, the therapist will work verbally with the client in order to develop a greater awareness of any images and sensations that might be relevant for resolving the presenting issue. At the end of the SER process, clients commonly report feeling a sense of relief, a reduction in pain, and feeling as though some sort of burden has been lifted, although details of individual experiences will differ.

Description taken from Wise Body Mind. For more information, visit Wise Body Mind.

Fascial Counterstrain

Counterstrain is a very gentle hands-on therapy that can address chronic health issues and fresh injuries alike.

First, the therapist examines tender points that reflect tenderness and tightness in deeper structures. Then, they make use of a system the client's body has to physically show which restriction is causing which restriction. Using this process, the therapist develops a roadmap for creating a solution not unlike opening a combination lock. Having determined what needs to be addressed, the therapist shortens the fascia (connective tissue) of the particular structure to widen drainage tubes. For about thirty seconds, the body pumps pain hormones out of the structure that were keeping it tight. For about thirty seconds, the therapist the pulsing as pain is pumped out of the area. When this is finished, the body relaxes.

This method is powerful because it addresses the specific needs of each body and stimulates the body to heal itself. 

Total Body Balancing

A gentle, osteopathic approach to bodywork that focuses on movement of bones and joints. Unlike chiropractic, there are no sudden movements. This can be utilized as a whole-body treatment, in order to calm the nervous system.

Conditions Treated

Conditions treated include:

• Hot flashes
• Female reproductive system conditions: menstrual or premenstrual pain, pain with sex, infertility
• Erectile dysfunction
• Kidney dysfunction (kidney labs often improve)
• Incontinence, frequent urge or need to urinate, or inability to empty bladder
• Chronic fatigue
• Fibromyalgia
• Brain fog (e.g. post-covid, post- concussion, post-chemo)
• Attention problems/ ADHD/ ADD
• Loss of smell/ taste
• Poor balance/ poor coordination/ joints feel unstable
• Disc pain/ herniated disc/ spinal nerve compression/ spinal pain after spinal fusion
• Carpal tunnel syndrome/ thoracic outlet syndrome
• Osteoarthritis/ joint pain in the spine, TMJ, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, ribs, SI (sacroiliac) joint, hips, knees, ankles, feet
• Muscle weakness
• Osteoporosis/ osteopenia
• Bone pain, painful joint implants, surgical adhesions, scars
• Emotional numbness or loss of sex drive
• Depression, PTSD, anxiety, feeling of being stuck in life
• Insomnia
• Sinus issues
• Difficulty breathing or chest pain
• Digestive issues: colic, pain with meals, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, heartburn, acid reflux, GERD, pain with meals
• Headaches/ migraines
• High blood pressure (hypertension)/ low blood pressure (e.g. orthostatic hypotension)
• Skipped beats/ palpitations or arrhythmias
• Stroke/ transient ischemic attack (TIA)
• Concussion/ traumatic brain injury (TBI)1
• Tinnitus
• Swelling due to surgery or injury
• Numbness/ tingling/ sciatica/ burning sensation
• Liver/ gall bladder conditions
• Swelling and pain due to surgery or tattoo

...and more