Nelson Chiropractic & Pilates Center

This was an interesting one! A patient presented to my office with the complaint of dizziness which she has had for many years. She noted that she had seen every specialist and had every form of imaging and everything was normal. She had seen other chiropractors and physical therapists and reports that the Epley Maneuver made her condition worse. Laying down and getting up from laying down, always exacerbates her condition.

Palpation revealed significant hypertonicity and tenderness in her suboccipital muscles bilaterally, left scalene, and left sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM). Muscle testing revealed weakness in every neck muscle. In addition, cervical rotation testing revealed weakness bilaterally as well.

NeuroKinetic Therapy® (NKT) testing revealed that the left suboccipitals were neurologically overactive and her right suboccipitals were underactive. The left anterior scalene was overactive and the left SCM was underactive.

Soft tissue treatment was performed to the left suboccipital and left scalene and simple activation exercises were performed on the right suboccipital and left SCM. All muscles and cervical rotation tested normal on retesting.

When the patient went to lay down, she reported no dizziness. She only had slight dizziness at end range cervical rotation. When she got up from laying down, she reported no dizziness at all! She was completely shocked! On her follow up visit, she couldn’t believe that she had no dizziness at all in any movement, since her last treatment!

I’ll be teaching a NKT Level 1 in the Philadelphia area November 9 & 10, and Amsterdam in December. Check out https://neurokinetictherapy.com/upcoming-seminars/ for more information or to register.

A young field hockey player presented to my office with lower back pain. She reported no obvious injury, but between practices and private training sessions, overuse is a concern.

Posture assessment revealed a significant forward drawn posture which included anterior head carriage, rounding of the shoulders, and when seated a significant posterior pelvic tilt. Palpation revealed tenderness and hypertonicity in her abdominal muscles, diaphragm, erector spinae, multifidus, quadratus lumborum (QL), and her iliacus bilaterally.

Muscle testing revealed weakness in her abdominal muscles, QL’s, multifidus, and iliacus bilaterally. NeuroKinetic Therapy® (NKT) testing revealed that her diaphragm was neurologically overactive, and her abdominals were neurologically underactive. In addition, her multifidus was overactive, and her iliacus was underactive.

Soft tissue treatment to the diaphragm and multifidus with a simple activation exercise to the abdominals and iliacus resulted in all muscles becoming strong on retesting. Immediately, the patient noted how much easier it was to take a deep breath.

She was assigned a simple diaphragm release with an abdominal activation exercise for homework. On her follow up visit, she couldn’t believe how much better her back felt!

I’ll be teaching a NKT Level 1 in the Philadelphia area November 9 & 10, and Amsterdam in December. Check out https://neurokinetictherapy.com/upcoming-seminars/ for more information or to register.

A patient recently presented to my office with knee pain which she had been experiencing for the past year. She noted no obvious injury and was walking with an obvious limp. The patient did mention playing tennis throughout high school, which she graduated from recently.

Utilizing NeuroKinetic Therapy® (NKT) testing we found 3 major dysfunctions over the span of 3 visits. The first dysfunction was a knee compression issue that was creating weakness in her quadriceps, hamstrings, hip flexors, and gluteus maximus. NKT identified an overactive vastus lateralis and an underactive vastus intermedius as the main dysfunction.

On the second visit, the popliteus was neurologically overactive and inhibiting the re**us femoris. On the third visit, the superior tibiofibular ligament was neurologically overactive related to a neurologically underactive inferior tibiofibular ligament. This dysfunction was inhibiting the lateral hamstrings, the peroneus longus, and the tensor fascia latae.

Soft tissue treatment to the overactive structures and simple activations to underactive structures resulted in every muscle testing strong each visit. In addition to reproducing the treatment for homework, the patient was assigned single leg activities which progressed from body weight to weighted exercises. By her fourth visit, the knee pain and limp were completely gone.

I’ll be teaching a NKT Level 1 in the Philadelphia area November 9 & 10, and Amsterdam in December. Check out https://neurokinetictherapy.com/upcoming-seminars/ for more information or to register.

A recent patient reminded me how powerful NeuroKinetic Therapy® (NKT) can be when combined with chiropractic adjustments. A patient presented to my office with neck pain which she was experiencing for the past year. She noted that she had been to two chiropractors, a physical therapist, an orthopedic surgeon, and a pain medicine doctor.

Despite the medication, the injections, the electrical therapy, and the exercise, neither chiropractor was able to successfully adjust her neck. She noted significant tightness to her trapezius and neck muscles bilaterally and that her neck range of motion was greatly reduced.

Muscle testing revealed that all her cervical muscles and bilateral trapezius and levator muscles were strong, and palpation revealed that all those muscles were very hypertonic and painful. With a quick protocol we teach in NKT Level 2, all muscles tested weak on re-test. This revealed that she had a compression issue in her neck that was neurologically locking up all her neck and shoulder muscles.

NKT testing then revealed a compression issue was related to an overactive left scalene that was paired with an underactive left sternocleidomastoid (SCM). Soft tissue treatment to the left scalene and a simple activation to the left SCM resulted in all muscles testing normal and that all muscles now palpated normotonic. In addition, I was easily able to adjust her neck which immediately resulted in full range of motion! The patient couldn’t believe how easily her neck adjusted and how much more movement she had!

I’ll be teaching a NKT Level 1 in Atlanta in September (28 & 29), the Philadelphia area in November, and Amsterdam in December. Check out https://neurokinetictherapy.com/upcoming-seminars/ for more information or to register.