NeuroKinetic Therapy (NKT)

NeuroKinetic Therapy® (also known as NKT) is a method of assessment and treatment pioneered by David Weinstock. It is used to identify compensation patterns that may be contributing to pain and movement pattern dysfunction. While it is critical to treat the symptoms of an injury, it is also important to identify the cause. Movement happens in systems and patterns, not just with individual muscles. This means that in order to correct faulty movement patterns in the body, you have to change motor control patterns in the brain. Using a sophisticated form of manual muscle testing, we can identify faulty muscle recruitment patterns that contribute to pain and injury. If a muscle is inhibited due to injury or other causes, the brain will recruit other muscles to perform the work of the inhibited muscle. If this recruitment pattern persists, the result is frequently recurrent injury, persistent pain and/or dysfunction.

NKT focuses on reprogramming dysfunctional movement patterns and faulty muscle function on a motor control level to address pain. When the body has an injury, overuse, fatigue, or imbalance it will create a compensation pattern to support the loss of function that occurs. Over time this compensatory pattern becomes the new norm and is stored in the Motor Control Center (MCC) of the brain, which coordinates all movement in the body. This new pattern is not the optimal motor control pattern for proper function and instead creates tightness, weakness, or discomfort in the body. Pain and possibly loss of range of motion results from muscles overworking for other muscles that are underworking. Simply stretching and releasing the tight muscles will not change this neurologically programmed movement pattern. 

Have you gone for a massage, felt better for a few days or weeks, only to have the same pain or dysfunction recur? Does this sound familiar? NKT can help with this. The human body is an amazing compensator. Our survival instincts combined with our ability to ignore the signals our body gives us (tightness, pain, stiffness, discomforts) allow it to compensate in every way imaginable to keep us working, playing, and exercising past our functional capabilities at times. We compensate purposefully to keep moving and minimize our pain and fatigue, but this is also exactly how we create dysfunction with compensation upon compensation. 

Using NKT protocols, I can assess muscle function through specific muscle testing, evaluate motor control patterns, and identify dysfunction to see which muscles are overactive (facilitated) and which are underactive (inhibited). Through specific release and activation techniques, these dysfunctional patterns can be reprogrammed to have a lasting effect on the body’s function. Client participation and corrective movement are key pieces of creating a new functional movement pattern and integrating it in the MCC, which is why the homework piece is so important. NKT helps identify the root cause of pain issues and is highly effective in treating chronic pain conditions. 

At Thrive Therapeutics, NeuroKinetic Therapy (NKT) Sessions get to the root cause of your chronic pain issue. These sessions are highly effective at addressing chronic pain issues because they are designed to work with your nervous system (aka your brain), which is where pain signals come from. First, a thorough assessment is used to identify the root cause of the pain issue at the beginning of your session and then again at the end of your session to verify the treatment was effective. Then based on the findings of the thorough assessments, multiple modalities (Sports Massage, Thai Massage, Neuromuscular Therapy, Active or Passive Stretching Techniques, Trigger Point Therapy, Myofascial Release Therapy, etc) are used to release the facilitated muscle. After that, you will be given specific exercises to activate the inhibited muscle along with a specific movement pattern to integrate and restore the functional movement pattern into your motor control center. Lastly, you'll be sent home with homework (a short specific protocol based on your treatment in the office) to perform at home on your own to solidify and enhance the work that was done in the office and make your results last longer.