When thinking of massage, most of you will imagine a swedish style, with oils or lotions and relaxing music. What I do is a bit different, in a clinical setting. I've compiled a few of my most frequently asked questions for those of you who may be new to NMT. If after reading this blog you still have questions, please leave them for me as a comment below.
What is Neuromuscular Therapy?
NMT is a highly specialized form of result-driven manual therapy, with focus on ligaments, tendons, fascia and deeper layers of muscle tissue.
As noted by the Buckland Massage & Neuromuscular Center, NMT seeks to eliminate pain, chronic or acute, by addressing five key elements that cause pain:
Ischemia: the lack of blood flow to soft tissues that causes hypersensitivity to touch.
Trigger points: highly irritated points in muscles that refer pain to other parts of the body.
Nerve entrapment/compression: pressure on a nerve by soft tissue, cartilage or bone.
Postural distortions: imbalance of the muscular system resulting from the movement of the body off the longitudinal and horizontal planes. Longtime poor postural habits are the most common cause of pain from this element.
Biomechanical dysfunction: imbalance of the musculoskeletal system resulting in faulty movement patterns (i.e., poor lifting habits, computer keyboarding, bad mechanics in a golf swing or tennis stroke).
Who benefits from NMT?
Anyone with soft tissue pain will benefit from a NMT session! Some common examples of issues that may be helped with NMT are:
Sciatica symptoms
Headaches
Plantar Fascitis
Jaw Pain/ TMJ disorders (By the way, everyone has TMJ, in fact two of them: temporal mandibular joints. When there is an issue with the joint, it then is called a disorder)
Low/Upper Back Pain
Tendinitis (which really should be called Tendinosis)
Iliotibial Band (IT Band) Friction Syndrome
Carpal Tunnel Symptoms
Hip Pain
Knee Pain
Ankle Pain
You get it :)
How is NMT different than other massage?
First, you should know that I don't operate under the “No Pain, No Gain” motto. You should not have to feel worse to feel better. Also, typically, changes that were invited to occur rather than forced will have longer lasting results!
NMTs apply perpendicular pressure over the tissues with small cross-fiber movements using tools such as fingers, thumbs, elbows, forearms, etc. to persuade the nervous system to relax the tissue.
A major way NMT is different than a “regular massage” is that I will be communicating with you through most of the session about pressure and sensations- referred or localized. This INCLUDES you in the session and allows you to “hear” new things about your body. If you don't care too much about the results and just want to relax, a swedish style massage may be better fitting for you but many find NMT sessions to be very relaxing. It should, since we are working to relax your nervous system!
As an Advanced Neuromuscular Therapist, I have a strong background in science. I understand the mechanisms of our bodies on a cellular level as well as a structurally functional level. I also understand that massage cannot treat every ailment so I refer out and collaborate when needed.
How many sessions will it take?
You will most definitely notice results after the first session but each case is individual so the amount of sessions varies. I notice that my clients who are very active in their healing outside of the clinic experience the most dramatic results, in fewer sessions.
How will I be clothed during the session?
Because NMT doesn't require the use of oils or cremes, you can remain fully clothed. Some techniques will require skin to skin contact so we may chose to only expose the necessary tissue. As with any massage, I can accommodate to whatever your comfort level may be.
How can I continue to make positive changes after or between sessions?
A huge part of your healing process is to identify the reasons that may have contributed to the injury or tender area. When we have poor posture, our nerves and tissues suffer. Let's say you have a headache after work everyday and by testing the range-of-motion of your neck and shoulders, we conclude that your headache is a result of the “head forward” posture you develop while sitting at your computer desk.
A head-forward posture is exactly what you think: rather than resting on top of your neck, your head sticks out a bit in front of your body. This type of posture causes tight (contracted) muscles on the front of your neck, bringing jaw, chest and shoulder muscles along with it.
Because of all the tension on the front body, you FEEL the pain and tension like it is on the backside. Now, the muscles connecting to the back of your HEAVY skull have to do two jobs to perform:
1. They stretch and lengthen to ALLOW for the contracting and tightening that is happening on the front side as an eccentric contraction.
2. They are shortening and contracting (concentric contraction) to try and get your head back where it needs to be, which is balancing above your shoulders, with your ears in line with your shoulders.
Once you realize that you are leaning towards you computer, you can change your posture at your desk, thus eliminating your headaches. It can be as simple as that. I'll also show you how to stretch specific muscles or help suggest excerecises to strengthen weak areas to help bring you back into alignment/balance.
This was just an example. Everyone will have unique challenges but together we can help change your habits that may be detrimental to your posture.
Important Laws of NMT:
If you want more science behind it, check out the below information from http://www.massagenerd.com/laws_neuromuscular_therapy.php :
Pfluger’s Laws: illustrate acute to chronic pain patterns and how pain is distributed throughout the body.
1. The Law of Unilaterality
“If a mild irritation is applied to one or more sensory nerves, the movement will take place usually on one side only and that side which is irritated.”
2. The Law of Symmetry
“If the stimulation is sufficiently increased the motor reaction is manifested not only to the irritated side but also in similar muscles on the opposite side of the body.” Assuming that I continue without treatment and to ease the pain, drink substantial amounts of alcohol and take a very hot shower, the next day not only would the initial injury site be in pain, but so would the equal and opposite side.
3. The Law of Intensity
“Reflex movements are usually more intense on the side of irritation and at times the movements of the opposite side equal them in intensity but they are usually less pronounced.” The following day, if I continue to resist proper treatment of my condition, the pain would now have traveled back and intensified at the original injury site with a lesser pain still present on the opposite shoulder.
4. The Law of Radiation
“If the excitation continues to increase it is propagated upwards and reactions take place through centrifugal nerves coming from the cord segments higher up.” The pain will radiate upward from the site of the original injury toward the brain and then, failing alleviation, will radiate outward, creating a general contraction of all the muscles in the body.
5. The Law of Generalization
“If the irritation becomes very intense it is propagated in the medulla oblongata, which becomes
the focus from which the stimuli radiate to all parts of the cord causing a general contraction of all the muscles of the body.”
OTHER LAWS
*Wolffís Law - Observes that calcium is laid down along lines of stress resulting in bony spurs, joint immobility and calcified ligaments... Muscle hypertrophy occurs in overworked muscles; disuse atrophy occurs in those not worked adequately. Chronic skin changes (dryness, scaling, cracking, thickening, pimples, etc.) occur when trophic substances (carried via vascular channels or by axoplasmic flow) do not provide adequate nutrition.
*Sherrington’s Law - Muscles on one side of a joint will relax upon contraction of the antagonist
muscle or muscles. (Every posterior spinal nerve root supplies a particular area of the skin, with a certain overlap of adjacent dermatomes.)
*Hilton’s Law - The nerve root that supplies a joint, supplies all the muscles that attach to that joint, and the overlying skin. Hilton further states that "every fascia of the body has a muscle attached to it, and that every fascia throughout the body must be considered as a muscle."
*Davis’ Law (Over Stretching) - When muscle ends are brought closer together, the pull of tonus is increased, which shortens the muscle, which may even cause hypertrophy; and if muscle ends are separated beyond normal, tonus is lessened or lost, thus muscle becomes “weak.” Emphasizes that if muscles are lax for extended periods of time, gamma gain and reciprocal
inhibition will take up the slack.
*The Law of Facilitation (Reoccurring Injuries) - When an impulse has passed once through a certain set of neurons to the exclusion of others, it will tend to take the same course on future occasions, and each time it traverses this path the resistance will be smaller; the passage of these neural impulses become even easier for all succeeding impulses.
*Arndt Schultz Law - Weak stimuli activate physiological processes; very strong stimuli inhibit them.
*Hilton's Law - The nerve root supplying a joint supplies the muscles attaching to that joint, as well as the overlying fascia and skin.
Newton’s 3 Laws
First Law (The principle of inertia) - A body at rest remains at rest and a body in motion remains in motion at a constant velocity as long as outside forces are not involved. Thus he made it no longer necessary to suppose that heavenly bodies moved because angels or spirits constantly impelled them. They moved because nothing existed in outer space to stop them after the initial impulse.
Second Law (Motion defined in terms of mass and acceleration) - This was the first clear distinction between the mass of a body and its weight. Newton showed that mass represented the body's resistance to acceleration; in other words, mass is the amount of inertia a body has. Weight, Newton showed, represents the amount of gravitational force between a body and another body (usually the earth).
Third Law (Action and reaction) - This famous law states that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. That law makes news today, since it governs the behavior of rockets. Newton considered the behavior of moving bodies both in vacuum and in media that offered resistance. In connection with the latter situation, he foreshadowed modern aeronautics.