Neuromuscular Therapy

According to the American Institute of Alternative Medicine, where I received my license, Neuromuscular Therapy is defined as:

 

“A specialized form of manual massage in which digital pressure and friction are used to release areas of strain in a muscle. Strain areas are called tender or trigger points, and they tend to be the cause of ongoing muscular pain symptoms. These trigger points are small areas of the muscle in which there is a contracture of tissue, and the lack of blood and nutrients in that area causes an inability for that muscle to relax. The area is hypersensitive and can cause pain, fatigue, and weakness in the muscles. Trigger points can lead to referral pain, which refers to a phenomenon in which areas far away from the trigger point experience sensations of pain, tingling, or numbness.”

 

At PRISM, our Neuromuscular Therapy session will look very different than a traditional massage. You will wear mostly gym clothes / street wear, as opposed to the traditional robing protocol, for this allows the practitioner more freedom to move around the body and incorporate different stretches. The primary goal of each session is to reverse the process of injury and aging to restore the body back to its proper anatomical design, so the session may involve either one area or many areas of the body, depending on your specific needs. The session will involve many different techniques, such as deep tissue strokes, long sustained holds, trigger point / fascia release, stretching and more.

 

During the session, we will be doing some breathwork to facilitate deeper muscle release, as this is vital to the treatment’s long term success. We will also be building a concept called Interoception, which is your ability to navigate an internal “map” of your body. A major part of your healing will involve rebuilding this map where it has been severed, as injury affects the communication between the brain and the body. A different way of saying this is learning to first activate the damaged muscle in isolation, and then be able to use it through movement. These activations rebuild the nervous system, and accelerate the healing process by building a more detailed map. We view this type of bodywork as the foundation for your movement program, so there will be some movement and muscle activation components throughout the session.

 

NMT is a powerful and effective therapeutic practice. What makes our sessions different is that after we have achieved deep muscle relaxation and restored your posture, we integrate those healed muscles fully into your movement systems down to your neurological wiring. A traditional massage will be very effective at relaxing the tight or damaged muscles, but without the deeper integration between the brain and the body, the results simply will not last. This style of bodywork would be more classified as a therapeutic-focused massage rather than a relaxation / experience focus.