Neuro-Structural Integration and NeuroKinetic Therapy

What are Neuro-structural integration, NeuroKinetic Therapy (NKT), and vagal work?

I offer Neuro-structural integration, massage therapy, Cranio-sacral therapy and NKT corrective exercise in Asheville for clients experiencing chronic pain or acute injury and movement dysfunction.

Neuro-Structural Integration is a modality for transforming structural balance & function, reducing pain and dysfunction, opening qi along energy meridians, activating the parasympathetic nerves and freeing blockages in nerves that have been impinged and shut down. This modality is much like Rolfing, in that we look at your structural balance and seek to create new patterns, but with a somewhat less invasive feeling approach which focuses on tendons and nerves themselves, unwinding the neck and spine, balancing the pelvis and other vectors, and healing tailbone (coccygeal) traumas and rehabilitating other injuries.  Always includes assisted integrative movement exercises at the end to restore proper muscular function and new neurological patterning.

NKT or NeuroKinetic Therapy is a corrective exercise & bodywork system of assessment & neuromuscular reprogramming that identifies the root cause of pain and dysfunction. Rather than treating tight or painful muscles in isolation, we assess compensation patterns in the nervous system, uncovering which muscles are overworking and which are inhibited. Through precise manual therapy, we help restore proper muscle activation, improve movement efficiency, and reduce chronic pain.

Depending on your goals, complexity of issues, and source of pain, you may choose to only come to me for NKT shorter sessions to slowly reprogram the neuro-muscular balance in the body, or we may decide that additional deeper Neuro-structural bodywork, coccygeal work, or Cranio-Sacral might be a helpful adjunct to corrective exercise.

How do NKT & Neuro-structural Integration work?

This body work modality is a form of structural alignment work, focusing on muscles, Golgi tendon organs, and nerves.  First, I assess your body to see what its underlying patterns are, and assess what part of that is due to muscle tension and nerve dysfunction.  While some structural imbalances can be your “normal” due to unique bone formation such as an anatomical leg length difference, more often than not, especially when accompanied by pain, they are due to imbalanced neuro-muscular function and traumas, big and small, which alter the holding patterns of our nervous system. I assist the body in balancing its structures, by working on the muscles, nerves themselves, as well as muscle origin and insertion points. We also assess the body through a number of manual muscle tests to assess which muscles are facilitated or inhibited in relation to one another, and then do the release and activation work to correct it, sending you home with corrective exercise homework to continue the reprogramming of the nervous system.

Look at the pictures below as an example of what this work can do in a scoliosis client in her 50s. With this client we not only unwound distortion in the pelvis, but also worked directly along the spine, with the shoulder girdle, legs and so on, to unwind the pattern at both ends of the system, and directly in the spine as well. We also worked to a small degree (this was before my full training in corrective exercise) on some basic exercises to help re-train the neurology and musculature for a healthier pattern of movement around the newly mobilized spine and tissue.

Beyond changing structure, the true magic of this work is in the pelvic and cranial nerves, including the Vagus nerve, the 10th cranial nerve which travels down the body and innervates the internal organs. The pelvic splanchnic nerves also travel up to innervate the lower part of the gut, and together with the vagus, these are the seat of the parasympathetic nervous system, the part of our nervous system responsible for “rest and digest”, and deep surrender and repose.  It is at these two points where we can unwind patterns that affect everything in between.  

By gently but firmly awakening dulled nerves, and releasing tension patterns in the surrounding fascia and musculature, I am able to access the full spectrum of the parasympathetic response.  When this occurs, the client will breathe deeper, and a wave of relaxation will wash over. The ongoing impacts on parasympathetic access can be staggering.

This work is particularly helpful for those who have pelvic or tailbone trauma from falling, childbirth, or other events, (as well as neck or cranial trauma impacting vagal tone).  These events can not only damage the tailbone, but cut off or numb the nerve supply to the genitals and internal organs. These nerves can be accessed in a simple, comfortable way, usually through a sheet, and gently awakened again from their amnesia.  Doing so not only can assist me to coax the tailbone back into alignment, and balance the pelvis and hips, but it can also affect the entire nervous system as the deep autonomic nerves of the sacrum are affected.  

This work also can be helpful for neck issues, supporting the balancing and awakening of the cranial neurology and the upper end of the parasympathetic nervous system. I often work these areas in combination with Cranio-Sacral Therapy.  We can also address shoulders, hips, legs, scoliosis and other spine issues, and so on, creating balance in all vectors of the body and relaxing the musculature that holds unhealthy patterns. Each session ends with a series of integrative exercises, which often include my active resistance, helping the neuro-muscular function to re-orient itself into a more fluid and healthy movement pattern.

What is corrective exercise? Is it like personal training?

I offer corrective exercise and personal training in Asheville, NC, which include my expertise in NKT (Neuro-Kintetic Therapy).

All of these modalities have some overlap, but increase in specificity depending on your goals. NKT is a modality for assessing neuromuscular balance and function, and correcting imbalances in muscular function at the neurological level. It is great for pain and dysfunction of all sorts. Corrective exercise is essentially the same concept, and NKT is truly the cream at the top of corrective exercise knowledge. A session with me in these modalities likely will involve some amount of bodywork to release facilitated (overworking) muscles, and exercises to activate the inhibited (underworking) muscles.

We may then choose to go further with your exercise education by doing a personal training session, at home or in a gym here in Asheville. Once the muscles are firing correctly after NKT, you may wish to then create an exercise regimen that not only takes your unique needs for rehabilitation into consideration, but also has a whole body approach. As we get muscles firing correctly, your lifts and exercises will actually prove much more fruitful as the correct muscles and muscle fibers are being activated! You may find that exercises you thought were going to build your glutes, for example, now actually can build the correct muscles rather than recruiting surrounding muscles which may be contributing to your low back pain and lack of progress or exercise plateau!

What do sessions cost and how long are they?

I generally work for at least 1.5-2.5 or more hours at a time, longer for the first session and usually closer to 1.5 hours for subsequent sessions, at $125-200/ hour sliding scale. NKT sessions are typically 45- 60 minutes and offered at $110. Generally, once we truly assess the whole body, we will find that what you believe is the only problem area, is affected by imbalance in other parts of the body, and as the body begins to unwind, some of these holding patterns may also be revealed in deeper layers. For this reason I suggest beginning with a 2 hour initial consultation and session, which will involve a complete analysis of the body, body work, and NKT integration exercises at the end. This also allows me to nourish the whole body and help you feel like a complete person walking out, rather than being picked apart and not put back together again.

Sessions can vary from clothed or covered by a sheet and very clinical focus, to a more nourishing whole body massage that still has very focused target work, but also using oil and Swedish and deep tissue techniques to help the body feel held and complete. I love combining my more clinical work with yummy massage when it feels like the right mix to meet your needs. I also combine forces at times with my knowledge of Mayan abdominal therapy and other visceral work, as this is the seat of the parasympathetic system. Read more about this and the pelvic work I do HERE

These sessions also may be combined with my Quantum Hypnosis work which you can read more about HERE. My hypnosis or hypnotherapy work is offered in Asheville, NC or remotely over zoom.

Feel free to contact me to see if this modality might be helpful to you! All modalities I use can be combined in various forms, tailored for your needs or specific desired outcomes. I’m happy to have a free 15 minute consult over the phone if you need to get more clarity before coming to see me.

What sort of issues can this work help?

Where am I located?

I offer massage, therapeutic bodywork, corrective exercise and NKT in Asheville, NC at my office or I can visit your home in the surrounding areas. An added fee of $1/mile may be added for anything more than 15 miles from downtown Asheville. Quantum hypnosis or hypnotherapy work is offered in Asheville or can be done remotely on its own over zoom.