NeuroSomatic Therapy
If you are experiencing chronic or intermittent pain problems such as headache, neck pain, TMJ problems, carpal tunnel, or back pain or postural problems such as scoliosis or “dowager’s hump”, or want to improve your athletic performance you should turn to a specific pain-relief muscle-normalizing therapy called St. John NeuroSomatic Therapy (SJNST) by Kyrras A. Conrad, RN, CNMT, CNST.
Pain at any given spot is often the symptom of a problem elsewhere. For most people SJNST actually ends the reason for the pain – it does far more than just relieving the symptoms. NST is a structurally integrative approach which assesses uneven muscle tension and postural distortions and corrects the improper structural and bio-mechanical patterns in your body.
The first session of SJNST is approximately 1½ hours long and involves a thorough health history, a complete postural assessment, and then specific work to treat the soft tissue imbalances found. Subsequent appointments are usually an hour long. Men can bring lightweight athletic shorts (no heavy waistbands, heavy seams, or heavy pockets), women can bring a leotard or bathing suit, or lightweight shorts and sports bra or light tank top.
Want to know more?
Postural distortions can cause joints to wear unevenly, or cause them to be slightly less stable so that even small injuries may have a great impact. There are various reasons we have postural distortion. Injury, repetitive use, or anatomical leg length difference are common reasons why we start to lose our good posture. When we stop being posturally straight -- whether because of injury, repetitive use problems, or uneven legs -- we will get pulled further out of alignment by gravity, just as a young tree will not be straightened by gravity -- it must be kept straight by support cables.
If the foundation begins to sink on one side of a building, the building will become crooked -- it will soon start to have problems such as cracking plaster, nails popping out, pipes leaking and other signs of strain. If our bodies are not posturally straight, our bodies will also, over time, show signs of strain. These signs of strain will eventually cause pain that seems to come out of nowhere. If imbalances continue to exist, gravity will have its way with us: the absence of pain when we are young will slowly become noticeable problems as we get older. As we continue to age, mild symptoms such as knee pain, hip pain, scoliosis, back pain, movement disorders, and headaches – that is, various neurological and orthopedic issues -- become more severe as our muscles strain to keep our bodies upright and satisfy our “righting reflexes,” which require our eyes to be level and looking straight ahead.
Back problems, for example, can arise from injuries that, when they happen, seem to have little to do with the back. A sudden-deceleration neck injury like one might get in even a minor car accident, for example, may cause a person’s head from then on to be carried further forward than it should be. A forward-head posture will cause a change in where and how the pelvis sits. This position shift pulls the spine out of alignment and consequences may be anything from a dull ache to bulging discs with consequent neck, back, arm or leg pain. By the same token, this forward-head posture can be the cause of bunions, plantar fasciitis, and heel spurs, since it changes the weight distribution in our feet.
Once the CNST practitioner has facilitated the realignment of the body structure, the patient is not only free of pain but also has a new awareness of how life's activities contribute to recurring misalignments. Most people do not need NST maintenance therapy. Through working with the practitioner, the patient develops new tools to maintain optimal alignment and freedom from structural pain. Thus, the patient becomes actively involved in his or her healing process. The patient also is advised about other treatment approaches and lifestyle adjustments will support the maintenance of a pain-free life.
NST works well with spinal manipulations to support proper skeletal alignment and optimal health. However, if ongoing manipulation is needed because the patient "goes out” again quickly, SJNST will often relieve the cause of the pain and correct the misalignment so there will be no further need for manipulation or SJNST except as an occasional tune-up.
SJNST is an internationally known form of Neuromuscular/Neurosomatic Therapy developed by Paul St. John, MT, CINT, founder of St. John Neuromuscular Therapy and Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy. It is based on the idea that misalignments of bones can be resolved by treating the soft tissues that hold those misalignments. In this way, pain can be eliminated. This is accomplished by examining three-dimensional misalignments in the patient's whole body structure. By applying specific deep tissue techniques to the muscles, tendons, and fascia (connective tissue) that maintain structural misalignments, pain relief and postural balance is achieved. Do not be misled by just anyone who says they do Neuromuscular Therapy – check credentials! NMT is a catch-all term often used for ordinary therapeutic massage. St. John Neuromuscular Therapy and Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy are specific therapies that require several hundred hours of class time. SJNMT and NST require a rigorous certification exam that includes both a hands-on and written demonstration of competence.
Pain at any given spot is often the symptom of a problem elsewhere. For most people SJNST actually ends the reason for the pain – it does far more than just relieving the symptoms. NST is a structurally integrative approach which assesses uneven muscle tension and postural distortions and corrects the improper structural and bio-mechanical patterns in your body.
The first session of SJNST is approximately 1½ hours long and involves a thorough health history, a complete postural assessment, and then specific work to treat the soft tissue imbalances found. Subsequent appointments are usually an hour long. Men can bring lightweight athletic shorts (no heavy waistbands, heavy seams, or heavy pockets), women can bring a leotard or bathing suit, or lightweight shorts and sports bra or light tank top.
Want to know more?
Postural distortions can cause joints to wear unevenly, or cause them to be slightly less stable so that even small injuries may have a great impact. There are various reasons we have postural distortion. Injury, repetitive use, or anatomical leg length difference are common reasons why we start to lose our good posture. When we stop being posturally straight -- whether because of injury, repetitive use problems, or uneven legs -- we will get pulled further out of alignment by gravity, just as a young tree will not be straightened by gravity -- it must be kept straight by support cables.
If the foundation begins to sink on one side of a building, the building will become crooked -- it will soon start to have problems such as cracking plaster, nails popping out, pipes leaking and other signs of strain. If our bodies are not posturally straight, our bodies will also, over time, show signs of strain. These signs of strain will eventually cause pain that seems to come out of nowhere. If imbalances continue to exist, gravity will have its way with us: the absence of pain when we are young will slowly become noticeable problems as we get older. As we continue to age, mild symptoms such as knee pain, hip pain, scoliosis, back pain, movement disorders, and headaches – that is, various neurological and orthopedic issues -- become more severe as our muscles strain to keep our bodies upright and satisfy our “righting reflexes,” which require our eyes to be level and looking straight ahead.
Back problems, for example, can arise from injuries that, when they happen, seem to have little to do with the back. A sudden-deceleration neck injury like one might get in even a minor car accident, for example, may cause a person’s head from then on to be carried further forward than it should be. A forward-head posture will cause a change in where and how the pelvis sits. This position shift pulls the spine out of alignment and consequences may be anything from a dull ache to bulging discs with consequent neck, back, arm or leg pain. By the same token, this forward-head posture can be the cause of bunions, plantar fasciitis, and heel spurs, since it changes the weight distribution in our feet.
Once the CNST practitioner has facilitated the realignment of the body structure, the patient is not only free of pain but also has a new awareness of how life's activities contribute to recurring misalignments. Most people do not need NST maintenance therapy. Through working with the practitioner, the patient develops new tools to maintain optimal alignment and freedom from structural pain. Thus, the patient becomes actively involved in his or her healing process. The patient also is advised about other treatment approaches and lifestyle adjustments will support the maintenance of a pain-free life.
NST works well with spinal manipulations to support proper skeletal alignment and optimal health. However, if ongoing manipulation is needed because the patient "goes out” again quickly, SJNST will often relieve the cause of the pain and correct the misalignment so there will be no further need for manipulation or SJNST except as an occasional tune-up.
SJNST is an internationally known form of Neuromuscular/Neurosomatic Therapy developed by Paul St. John, MT, CINT, founder of St. John Neuromuscular Therapy and Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy. It is based on the idea that misalignments of bones can be resolved by treating the soft tissues that hold those misalignments. In this way, pain can be eliminated. This is accomplished by examining three-dimensional misalignments in the patient's whole body structure. By applying specific deep tissue techniques to the muscles, tendons, and fascia (connective tissue) that maintain structural misalignments, pain relief and postural balance is achieved. Do not be misled by just anyone who says they do Neuromuscular Therapy – check credentials! NMT is a catch-all term often used for ordinary therapeutic massage. St. John Neuromuscular Therapy and Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy are specific therapies that require several hundred hours of class time. SJNMT and NST require a rigorous certification exam that includes both a hands-on and written demonstration of competence.