Ever been told repeatedly to sit or stand straight but finding yourself failing terribly? This is because your body and brain is not used to it! Neuromuscular Reeducation is your solution.
Neuromuscular Reeducation deals with retraining the brain and spinal cord in voluntary and reflex motor activities. It is a therapeutic approach to correcting dysfunctional muscle and nerve behaviour. The technique aims to retrain muscle and nerves to fire in a biomechanically efficient way to encourage better movement and posture.
Chiropractic Adjustment
Chiropractic adjustment is a type of SMT used for rapid pain relief and to increase your range of motion through a controlled, high-velocity thrust.
Muscle Energy Technique
Muscle Energy Technique is a therapeutic stretch and exercise for everyone who moves that increases range of motion.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Do I Need Neuromuscular Re-education?
Your brain, spinal cord, nerves, and muscles work together to produce motor movements. The highly complex process begins with nerves transmitting afferent signals from the receptors in our body to the brain. This information is processed by the brain before efferent motor signals are delivered via our nerves to our muscles. Faulty or dysfunctional movement pattern can occur due to any injury to the brain, the nerves, or the muscle. This dysfunctional movement pattern contributes to chronic pain.
How Does Neuromuscular Re-education Work?
- A range of exercises will be used to “retrain” your nerve signals and to build new muscle memory. These exercises start with simple movements and becomes more complex as your patterns are ingrained into you. The development of muscle memory is known in academic literature as neural adaptation. Neural adaptation occurs as your nerves become more efficient at communicating with your muscles. This typically happens during the first 3-4 weeks of a training program. The increased in strength during this period is not true muscle gain. True muscle gain typically occur between 4 to 6 weeks into a training program. Patients aiming for posture correction will typically take 4-6 weeks to learn the new posture and another 6-12 weeks to develop muscular strength to support themselves in the posture. If you are looking to correct a faulty motor pattern that is causing pain, your body will take 4-6 to learn the new movement patterns and another 4-6 weeks to increase the load capacity of your new movement pattern.
Stages of Neuromuscular Re-Education
Step 1: Functional movement or static posture assessment
Step 2: Identification of faulty movement pattern
Step 3: Basic motor control and movement pattern training
Step 4: Re-integration of basic motor movements into effect coordinated motion
Step 5: Increase load tolerance of joints
Step 6: Increase muscular strength
Step 7: Enjoy pain-free activities of daily living and/or back to sports!
Why is Neuromuscular Re-education Important for Recovery?
In both traumatic and non-traumatic injuries, “scar tissue” or adhesions that build up over time can cause impairment in movement. These impaired motor behaviour persists even after the “scar tissue” or adhesions have been removed by a skilled practitioner. This is one of the most common reasons for treatment failure.
While addressing and treating scar tissue is important, your recovery should not stop there. Failure to correct abnormal, dysfunction movement will lead to unnecessary stress on your musculoskeletal system and cause further injuries and pain.
How is Neuromuscular Re-education Different From Other Therapies?
Unlike most therapies that aims to reduce pain, improve range of motion, and/or remove scar tissue, the primary goal of neuromuscular reeducation is to restore the proper firing of the spinal and peripheral nerves to help you achieve better movement pattern. In doing so, neuromuscular reeducation primes patients for rehabilitation and also addresses abnormal movement behaviour which might have contributed to patient’s initial pain complaint.
Through the correction of the dysfunctional movement patterns, patients are able to optimise their daily function and reduce necessary stress of their body.
What Are The Benefits of Neuromuscular Re-education?
- Healthy posture
- Increased function and sport performance as a result of more energy-efficient movement
- Increased proprioception and bodily awareness
- Reduce risk for future injuries
How Do I Start?
Before you begin Neuromuscular Re-education therapy, your practitioner will perform a musculoskeletal assessment. This is to determine if your body requires soft tissue therapy to improve your pain, range of motion, or any scar tissue or adhesions that may be present. Patients who are deemed unsuitable for Neuromuscular Re-education therapy may opt for Smart Tools Therapy (IASTM) or Dry Needling to prepare their body for Neuromuscular Re-education therapy.
Remember, the broader goal of Neuromuscular Re-education is to restore a mind-body connection between your motor movements and nervous system. While results are slower than conventional therapies, addressing the cause of your symptom and its roots will give you longer lasting pain relief. You would be able to see results from as early as two weeks but will take between 3-4 months to the achieve longer-lasting results you are seeking.