Neurokinetic Therapy
About Neurokinetic Therapy aka "NKT"
Everything is connected....but how? Neurokinetic Therapy was co-developed by David Weinstock in the mid-1980s. It is an assessment and treatment protocol or technique that can be used to treat a wide variety of disorders.
"The NeuroKinetic Therapy™ corrective movement system protocol, employing a system of precise muscle tests, has the ability to change the programming of the Motor Control Center (MCC) in the cerebellum. The MCC coordinates all movement patterns in the body." -David Weinstock
The motor conrtol centre is a system based on failure. When an Neurokinetic Therapy Practitioner tests the firing of a weak muscle and it fails, this provides an opportunity for re-programming. We use a combination of health history, previous injuries, surgeries, posture and screening tests to help us figure out where to start looking for a related muscle, ligament, scar, tendon, etc.
Injuries, even really old one's, are highly significant to how you're motor control centre determines how you move. After an injury, the MCC adapts by setting up a compensation pattern and will keep this pattern in it's memory forever, unless it is changed with a reprogramming intervention. For example, the relationship between the muscles will affect how the body moves, such as with hip extension. A common problem we find is that people develop a reverse firing pattern of the hip which means the hamstring group is firing before the glute max with hip extension (which you do every time you take a step in a day). These people often have a really difficult time even turning on their glute max, let alone using it for activities like walking. Over time it can lead to osteoarthritis of the hip, due to the hamstring driving the head of the femur anteriorly into the acetabulum of the hip joint. With NKT, we can determine specifically what is causing the glute max to fail and use that to reprogram the MCC and get the glute max working again. To complete the re-programming process, it must be repeated so it can be committed to your long term memory and become permanent. We give patient very specific home-care exercises to work on at home. Fortunately, if this pattern is corrected, you may have successfully prevented needing a hip replacement later in life.
Some of the areas we would typically look at as sources of dysfunction are:
Antagonist muscles do opposite movements (bicep vs. tricep),
Agonist muscles much do the same movement (bicep vs. coracobrachialis),
Compression and Decompression (spine, hip, shoulder)
Diaphragm and breathing dysfunctions,
Functional opposites (calves vs. neck flexors),
Scars,
TMJ (jaw is very commonly related to the Quadratus Lumborum in the lower back),
and More.
Subsystems are also a big part of NKT. These are functional groupings of muscles that fire in sequence for specific movements. For example, every time you take a step you should fire your glute max, compress your sacroiliac joint, tense your thoracolumbar fascia and fire your opposite latissimus dorsi. For many reasons, this can go wrong and you end up with lower back pain. There are many subsystems that are related to all different kinds of movement patterns in the body. This is where an accurate health history and the other "tricks we have up our sleeves" help us to figure out where to start.
Therapist at Remedy Wellness Centre who are trained, certified and use Neurokinetic Therapy:
Kasey Thompson, Registered Massage Therapist, Level 2 Trained and Certified
"The NeuroKinetic Therapy™ corrective movement system protocol, employing a system of precise muscle tests, has the ability to change the programming of the Motor Control Center (MCC) in the cerebellum. The MCC coordinates all movement patterns in the body." -David Weinstock
The motor conrtol centre is a system based on failure. When an Neurokinetic Therapy Practitioner tests the firing of a weak muscle and it fails, this provides an opportunity for re-programming. We use a combination of health history, previous injuries, surgeries, posture and screening tests to help us figure out where to start looking for a related muscle, ligament, scar, tendon, etc.
Injuries, even really old one's, are highly significant to how you're motor control centre determines how you move. After an injury, the MCC adapts by setting up a compensation pattern and will keep this pattern in it's memory forever, unless it is changed with a reprogramming intervention. For example, the relationship between the muscles will affect how the body moves, such as with hip extension. A common problem we find is that people develop a reverse firing pattern of the hip which means the hamstring group is firing before the glute max with hip extension (which you do every time you take a step in a day). These people often have a really difficult time even turning on their glute max, let alone using it for activities like walking. Over time it can lead to osteoarthritis of the hip, due to the hamstring driving the head of the femur anteriorly into the acetabulum of the hip joint. With NKT, we can determine specifically what is causing the glute max to fail and use that to reprogram the MCC and get the glute max working again. To complete the re-programming process, it must be repeated so it can be committed to your long term memory and become permanent. We give patient very specific home-care exercises to work on at home. Fortunately, if this pattern is corrected, you may have successfully prevented needing a hip replacement later in life.
Some of the areas we would typically look at as sources of dysfunction are:
Antagonist muscles do opposite movements (bicep vs. tricep),
Agonist muscles much do the same movement (bicep vs. coracobrachialis),
Compression and Decompression (spine, hip, shoulder)
Diaphragm and breathing dysfunctions,
Functional opposites (calves vs. neck flexors),
Scars,
TMJ (jaw is very commonly related to the Quadratus Lumborum in the lower back),
and More.
Subsystems are also a big part of NKT. These are functional groupings of muscles that fire in sequence for specific movements. For example, every time you take a step you should fire your glute max, compress your sacroiliac joint, tense your thoracolumbar fascia and fire your opposite latissimus dorsi. For many reasons, this can go wrong and you end up with lower back pain. There are many subsystems that are related to all different kinds of movement patterns in the body. This is where an accurate health history and the other "tricks we have up our sleeves" help us to figure out where to start.
Therapist at Remedy Wellness Centre who are trained, certified and use Neurokinetic Therapy:
Kasey Thompson, Registered Massage Therapist, Level 2 Trained and Certified
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