Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy is a structurally integrative approach to pain relief. The method is based on finding improper structural and biomechanical patterns in the patient's body. In order to find these improper patterns, Paul St. John developed a way to analyze and chart dysfunctional postural patterns. Once these patterns are analyzed a comprehensive program is designed to guide the client through the five stages of rehabilitation: 1. Eliminate muscle spasm 2. Restore flexibility 3. Restore proper biomechanics 4. Increase muscle strength 5. Increase muscular endurance
Our purpose is to not only to eliminate the pain, but educate the patient on ways to prevent recurrence of the injury.
Laura is a Certified Integrative Neurosomatic Therapist, the first CINT in Washington State. Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy fills a void left by traditional health care by analyzing soft tissue causes of pain. According to recent research approximately 90% of pain symptoms are considered idiopathic, which means there is no known cause. We believe the reason there is no known cause is that a proper investigation into the patient's soft tissues is not being performed. Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy is a way to analyze and thoroughly explore the muscles, tendons, and ligaments in order to find these hidden sources of pain.
Restoring proper structure and biomechanics not only alleviates pain, but can positively affect a variety of physiological conditions. One of the neurological laws that is the basis for Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy is Wolff's law. Simply stated, Wolff's law states “form follows function and function follows form." Thus, a distortion in the form of the body is often correlated to improper function of the body. For example, a slouching posture can decrease digestive function or a trigger point into the ear can affect hearing or balance. When proper structure is restored to the body, the accompanying physiological problems are often alleviated. http://www.neurosomaticeducators.com
What Makes Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy Superior?
Though the name is a mouthful, it explains why Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy (INT) is such a powerful soft tissue treatment modality. “Integrative” means INT practitioners examine the entire body and work to balance all its systems. INT combines an understanding of muscle stress and injury, nervous system reflexes, physical laws and physiological processes with skilled and precise treatment of structures. INT practitioners are generalists, looking at the relationships between the body’s parts, not just one part at a time. Thus, INT recognizes patterns that a narrow focus on only one system or part may miss.
The “neuro” portion comes from INT’s focus on the nervous system. INT is built on a deep knowledge of postural reflexes, autonomic responses and neurological laws. Posture and movement patterns cannot permanently change without addressing the role of the nervous system. Chronic pain perpetuates because it is reinforced by postural reflexes and over stimulation of the central nervous system. A thorough understanding of trigger points and referred pain also allows INT to address complex chronic pain patterns that seem untreatable to the practitioner without this neurological perspective.
The “somatic” portion refers to INT’s thorough treatment of muscles, ligaments, tendons and fascia. Paul St. John (the creator of INT) has invented extremely effective positions and techniques to safely treat muscles that most bodyworkers, even “deep tissue” therapists, don’t even try to treat: the Longus Colli, the Obturator Internus, the Rectus Capitis Lateralis, the muscles of the eyes and pharynx. INT practitioners work on the cranium, the abdominal organs, and the throat – areas often ignored by other bodyworkers. INT treats the skin, fascia, tendon, ligament, muscle belly, works through all the fibers of the muscle and restores proper tonus, eliminates adhesion and trigger points. This thorough, deeply regenerative approach works on both the specific site of pain and the whole body to relieve the pattern causing pain.
INT strongly connects assessment and treatment. INT practitioners not only use highly effective treatments; they know how the treatments work and why. Chronic pain patterns are a complex network of habit, injury, postural compensation and emotion. The six dimensional posture chart allows the INT practitioner to thoroughly analyze and prioritize treatment. For example, the Righting reflex and Lovett Reactor relationship are complex relationships between all of the proprioceptive sensors of the body and the environment. By comparing the positions of the bones of the cranium and pelvis, the chart can reveal if a pain pattern is caused by a neurological disturbance or hypertonic or adhered muscles. Emotions or organ contracture will cause a difference between standing or supine measurements, indicating that cranial or visceral work may be the most productive first treatment. The balance of viscera and cranium will often lead to emotional release and healing as well.
Could a Leg Length Difference Be Causing You Pain?
The idea that a difference in leg length causes musculoskeletal pain is nothing new. It is obvious that people who have a noticeable difference in their legs have to lean and walk unevenly to compensate for the difference. It is undoubtedly stressful on the muscles and connective tissue of the hips, back and spine to make those compensations for the ideal 10,000 steps and many additional hours of standing that a person does each day. It is also obvious that the body would use much of its available energy to make these compensations.
Massage Therapists, Physical Therapists, Chiropractors and Osteopaths have long recognized that a majority of people’s legs are of different lengths. There is a distinction between a functional leg length difference – caused by muscle imbalance – and anatomical leg length difference - caused by bones of different dimensions. For many years, it has generally been taught and believed that an anatomical leg length difference is very rare, effecting less that 2% of the population. Careful x-ray studies have shown, however, that the incidence of anatomical (bone) difference in the general population is as high as 90%. The number with enough of a difference to cause musculoskeletal pain is between 40 and 60%. A difference as small as 3-4 mm can have a significant impact on your sense of ease and well being and 5mm or more will cause chronic postural distortion and pain.
The fact that a majority of the population has an anatomical leg length difference is fantastic news because it means that the simple addition of a full sole lift in the short-leg shoe could dramatically improve chronic muscle tension, increase the body’s available energy level and prevent joint deterioration and injury. As conventional wisdom changes about the incidence of leg length difference, more medical practitioners are learning to recognize it. Some medical practitioners suggest wearing a wearing a heel lift in the short-leg shoe. A heel lift will not solve may very temporarily relieve muscle and joint pain, but will also create a new set of more serious postural problems to contend with. The heel lift will cause the weight to shift forward onto the front of the foot, but not correct the problem of the leg length difference. The body has to compensate as if it wore only one high heeled shoe. A heel lift is essentially the same distortion. For the patient who has tried a heel lift and found that the pain got gradually much worse, there is a better option. A full sole lift is a completely different approach that is much more effective.
Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy is a treatment system designed to assess whether a leg length difference, accident, injury or habitual muscle pattern is distorting your posture and diminishing your vitality. A full postural assessment takes less than half an hour and provides a wealth of information about your body.
The Six Dimensional Posture Chart
The basis of Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy is the six-dimensional posture chart. The measurements and analysis give the therapist and client a wealth of information about the body’s alignment and the opportunities for optimizing its function. The measurements are taken standing and lying down. The therapist measures for imbalances of the spine, limbs and neck as well as within the skull and jaw.
The first piece of information gleaned from the six dimensional posture chart is whether the client has an anatomical leg length difference. A lower limb length inequality (LLLI), or short leg, was once believed to be quite rare, but careful research has shown that over 40% of the population has a measurable LLLI of 5mm or more. A 5mm LLLI is enough to cause discernable musculoskeletal pain and distortion. A 4 mm LLLI can cause pain under the stress of injury or extra weight. Correcting for even a 2 or 3mm LLLI can improve athletic performance and endurance. An uncorrected LLLI is a persistent irritation and challenge to a person’s health and vitality. An uncorrected LLLI is a significant reason why musculoskeletal pain returns again and again a few days or weeks after treatment.
Once a possible LLLI is identified, it can be more precisely measured with an INT lift kit and confirmed with a properly positioned x-ray. A simple full sole shoe lift can make a tremendous difference in the client’s structural stability. Once this stability is established, Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy to the muscles, viscera, atlas and cranium will eliminate structural mis-alignments and achieve lasting pain relief.
Whether or not a LLLI is identified for the client, the six dimensional posture chart also indicates imbalances in the muscles, viscera, spine and cranium caused by injury, stress or dysfunctional movement patterns. The chart will indicate the alignment of the spinal cord, its ligaments and fascia. By examining the relationship between the bones of the cranium, cranial base and pelvis, the Integrative Neurosomatic Therapist can determine if the spinal cord is stretched, twisted or sheared at the cranial base, spinal column or pelvis. Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy applied to the atlas, cranium and pelvis can correct these distortions, ease pain and restore postural stability.
Comparing the measurements of the torso and head in the standing and lying down positions can indicate whether the client would benefit most from Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy applied to the viscera or cranium. The Integrative Neurosomatic Therapist will also address the position of the atlas, muscles of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), and muscles of the eyes.
The six dimensional posture chart is the first step in creating a powerful Integrative Neurosomatic treatment plan to eliminate pain and create lasting stability and well-being. Full function is usually restored in 8 to 10 treatments.
The Righting Reflex and Postural Dysfunction
The position of the body is not entirely determined by environment or habit. In addition to the action of external forces, the brain has motor reflexes which also effect body alignment. The most important of these is the righting reflex; the reflex that keeps our eyes level. The righting reflex is crucial to our balance and depth perception and thus the brain prioritizes level eyes over alignment in any other part of the body.
Although the righting reflex does the important work of keeping balance, if a person has a leg length inequality, scar tissue adhesions from a previous injury, or organ dysfunction, the righting reflex will cause the body to twist and turn to accommodate the postural imbalance and keep the eyes level. These twists and turns are the genesis of those persistent aches and pains. If the postural imbalance continues, the righting reflex will demand that the body assume those twists and turns again, even if the tight muscles or adhered tissues are released. If a postural distortion is caused by the dysfunction of the viscera, tight eye muscles or a leg length inequality and reinforced by the righting reflex, the effects of even a skillful and rigorous deep tissue massage will not last.
For example, if you have a habitual forward head posture, your eye muscles have become accustomed to holding your eyes up so that they remain centered. These tight eye muscles will cause headaches and fatique, but the righting reflex overrides that discomfort and demands that the eyes keep looking up. If a deep tissue massage releases your neck and chest, bringing the head back to a normal position, the eyes are now set too high. The righting reflex will now demand that the neck adjust to the posture of the eyes and the head and neck aches will return. Both the eye and neck muscles must be addressed to create a pain free posture.
The righting reflex creates a relationship between pairs of bones in the cranium and pelvis -- the Lovett Reactor relationship. The temporal bones and iliums, the occiput and sacrum, the sphenoid and the coccyx all connect via the connective tissue surrounding and protecting the spinal cord. Ideally, these pairs of bones move in opposite directions to maintain balance and keep our eyes level as we move. This normal movement stimulates the spinal cord and central nervous system and helps us feel balanced and confident as we perform our daily activities. If muscle over-tightness, skeletal mis-alignments, or scar tissue distort the Lovett reactor relationships, a person’s sense of well-being is severely compromised. Chronic pain is the result.
A thorough postural analysis and the application of Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy to the cranium, viscera, eyes and atlas combined with structural stabilization by a shoe lift (if needed) will successfully restore the correct Lovett Reactor relationships and help the righting reflex do its proper job of keeping your balance without reinforcing your pain.
The Position of Your Atlas and Brainstem Function
The atlas is the first vertebrae in your spine, positioned directly underneath your skull. The spinal cord passes through the large foramen (hole) in the center. Directly above the spinal cord is the brainstem, which controls your body’s automatic functions. Six of the cranial nerves pass through the atlas, as well as your vertebral arteries.
The atlas is a highly mobile bone. The surfaces that meet with the bottom of the skull are shallow and the atlas can move out of position with injury, force or chronic postural distortion. Though there are some ligaments, the atlas is held in place primarily by the muscles of the head and neck. These muscles can become over-tight and move the atlas out of proper position due to postural dysfunction –a forward head posture, physical trauma, whiplash or chronic emotional stress.
If the atlas is out of position, the spinal cord, brainstem, cranial nerves and vertebral arteries may be stretched, twisted or compressed. Atlas mis-position may cause or exacerbate insomnia, chronic headaches, migraines, hypo- or hyper-thyroidism, high blood pressure, or respiration difficulties. A mis-aligned atlas can decrease the blood flow to the brain, thereby diminishing any number of brain and metabolic functions.
Chiropractors and Osteopaths have been treating mis-positions of the atlas for many years. While an adjustment of the atlas will reposition the bone correctly, it will not change the postural, muscular or fascial restrictions that have initially mis-aligned it or kept it misaligned after an injury.
Atlas correction by an Integrative Neurosomatic Therapist differs from chiropractic adjustment because it is a soft tissue solution to a soft tissue dysfunction. Addressing the postural patterns and releasing the muscles that keep the atlas out of alignment will create long lasting stability of the cranial base.
Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy for the Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ)
The joint where the lower jaw meets the skull, the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), is a highly mobile and frequently injured joint. In addition to the hard work of chewing and talking, the muscles of the lower jaw stabilize the head and neck and can be injured with the force of falls or auto accidents. Dental procedures can also traumatize the TMJ, causing scar tissue and inflammation that does not quickly resolve in this constantly stressed area. These dysfunctions of the TMJ can lead to chronic pain if left untreated. Bite splints may provide more stability to the joint, but do nothing to relieve the hypertonic muscles and inflammation that cause the pain.
Sometimes TMJ pain arises without an obvious cause. Or, one may experience a small injury that turns into chronic pain. A less recognized cause of TMJ pain is postural distortion. One of the articulating bones of the TMJ, the temporal bone, is connected by strong connective tissue to a bone in the pelvis – the ilium. An imbalance in the ilium will either create or reflect a corresponding imbalance in the temporal bone and pressure on the TMJ joint will be the result. A postural imbalance in the spine, a limb inequality, or an injury to the hip, shoulder or neck may cause the head to compensate by tilting, rotating or jutting to the side. The muscles of the lower jaw must compensate to this distortion as well in order for the teeth to meet. Chewing and speaking in this imbalanced position create pain and dysfunction in the TMJ. Thus, the resolution of TMJ difficulties must include analysis and treatment of the postural distortion in the head and in other parts of the body.
Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy (INT) treatment for TMJ dysfunction includes both a full body postural analysis, including the head, neck and face and also specific treatment techniques on the muscles of the face, jaw and throat. An INT practitioner will examine environmental, physiological and neurological influences on a dysfunctional TMJ and craft an individual treatment to address specific dysfunctions in these systems. INT treatment will address the specific intrinsic muscles of the throat, pharynx and face to relieve connective tissue adhesions, referred pain, inflammation and muscle spasm. INT’s full body analysis will reveal if old injuries, structural inequalities or neurological influences are stressing the TMJ. INT treatment will also address these stresses and postural distortions of the whole body, restoring the balance that will allow the TMJ joint to heal.
INT’s unique specific and global approach is particularly suited to relieving TMJ pain and dysfunction. Both laxity and immobility of the joint may be caused by injury or postural distortion or both. Since INT uses both specific treatment on the muscles of the face, neck and throat as well as holistic analysis of whole body forces on the TMJ, treatment is thorough and effective. Most patients experience significant relief after one to two treatments and resolution in 8-10 sessions.
Visceral Balancing with Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy
The organs in your chest and abdomen are not simply piled together. Each has a unique position and is held there by strong connective tissue that attaches it to the borders of the thoracic and abdominal cavities. When all is well, this connective tissue holds each organ in its proper place. But, when organs are stressed by disease or toxins, they can contract, pulling on these connective tissue bonds and creating postural distortions. For example, a stressed pancreas can contract the upper abdomen, pulling the chest forward and causing upper back or neck pain. A stressed liver can cause a rotation in the torso, creating one sided low back, shoulder or chest pain. These organ caused distortions may become more apparent when lying down. Difficulty falling asleep or getting into a comfortable position may indicate visceral distress and adhesion.
Conversely, postural imbalance can cause organ dysfunction as well. A slumped posture when sitting or standing will put pressure on the stomach, causing acid reflux. An imbalanced pelvis will cause incontinence, constipation or prolapse of the pelvic organs. A forward head posture will stretch the baroreceptors of the carotid arteries, increasing blood pressure and the risk of stroke. Since organs do not have pain receptors, the distress will feed into the central nervous system, creating referred pain in other tissues of the body. Sharp or nagging pain that doesn’t respond to treatment of the muscles may be caused by visceral imbalance.
This relationship of organ contracture and postural imbalance creates a habitual cycle of dysfunction that is difficult to untangle. Because of the body’s visceral-somatic reflexes, dysfunctional posture will cause organ distress and organ distress will reinforce postural dysfunction. Visceral balancing using Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy (INT) presents an end to this cycle, first by recognizing it. An examination of the INT six dimensional posture chart will reveal if a postural imbalance is caused by organ distress, muscle spasm or structural inequality in the body.
Through effective hands-on techniques, the INT practitioner will release organ contractures and adhesions in both organs and abdominal connective tissue. Though energetic or healing touch practices may bring comfort and relief to clients, they are not INT. INT practitioners directly palpate and massage the organs and connective tissue of the abdomen and chest. INT specifically palpates organ tissue and directly treats the contractures and adhesions within and around the organs. Examining the interaction of the body’s muscular, visceral and nervous system, an INT practitioner pinpoints the specific muscles and organs to treat, with rapid healing as the result. This direct, efficient approach is effective treatment for both muscular and visceral problems. A patient usually experiences relief after one to two sessions and postural balance is usually restored in 8 to 10 sessions.
The Aches and Pains We Call Aging Are the Result of Postural Distortions
It happens so predictably that most people assume it’s natural. In the late thirties or early forties, a person begins to notice those persistent aches and pains that arise for no real reason. After examination, possibly an x-ray or MRI that shows minor trauma or mild inflammation, the middle aged person resigns to living with persistent pain, with pain relievers and other palliatives as the only remedy.
These aches and pains are not just from aging; they are caused by postural distortions. The body heroically compensates for postural imbalances for years, even decades, but eventually, the stress of postural compensations takes its toll. Joints and muscles that have become full of scar tissue and starved for food and oxygen will finally begin to complain. Postural imbalances also cause a drain on the whole body and psyche, creating a sense of fatigue and generally slow recovery. A minor injury to a body already stressed by postural distortions will take longer to heal. In contrast, a body with an efficient, balanced posture is resilient and able to bounce back from little mishaps. Bending over to pick up a shopping bag or catching oneself after a stumble will create a minor tweak or strain that heals quickly, not put someone to bed for several days with a back that has “gone out”. The constant strain of postural imbalance predisposes a person to chronic injury. It is not “natural” or “inevitable” for a body to wear out in a few particular areas. Isn’t the whole body the same age?
The good news is that postural distortions are completely treatable in any aged body. An Integrative Neurosomatic Therapist (INT) can relieve postural stress with intensive hands on treatment. After taking precise and thorough postural measurements, the INT creates an individually tailored treatment plan to specifically address your entire body’s postural patterns. Postural distortions are eliminated through analysis of neurological reflexes and targeted treatment to muscles and connective tissue. Once efficient posture is restored, the joints and muscles strained by imbalances have the circulation, nutrition and oxygen to heal. You can gain strength by exercising or participating in the sports you enjoy without the strain of chronic pain. Efficient posture is supporting and protecting your joints and muscles and you are less prone to injury.
If joint replacement seems to be the only answer to persistent pain, consider a thorough postural analysis first. A balanced, efficient posture will not only relieve pain, but take the strain and pressure off of stressed joints and allow them to heal. Even an artificial joint will wear away under the strain of postural imbalance. Postural treatment is a tiny fraction of the cost and pain of joint replacement, with no surgical recovery time. An Integrative Neurosomatic Therapist can give you a thorough postural analysis in about half an hour and develop a treatment plan to create a mobile, efficient body at any age. The first session will determine whether INT will be of benefit and INT patients typically experience significant improvement in body pain in 8 to 10 sessions.
