Ever have a client who complains of pain somewhere along their spine? Probably the two most common complaints clients report is lumbar (low-back) pain and cervical (neck) pain. At one time, lumbar-pelvic pain was the leading reason for emergency room visits.

Often times massage is only marginally effective in reducing these complaints. That is not because the problem isn’t in the muscles, which should respond to massage therapy. The challenge is that there are a number of muscles that move and stabilize the spine that cannot even be touched with anything short of a scalpel or needle. Neither of these tools are within the scope of practice of massage therapy and especially the former is not renowned for bringing positive soft-tissue outcomes. If only there was a way to manually release the trigger points (TrPs), the ischemia, and the hyper-tonus from these untouchable muscles that can be strong generators of pain.

Pain Along the Spine

There are lots of causes for pain along the spine. Allopaths often blame skeletal problems like discs, stenosis, bone spurs, spondylolisthesis, facet joint syndrome, etc. for the pain, and that can be true, yet radiological studies have shown that many people with one or some of these terrifying problems report no pain—some people with no findings, radiologically, report severe pain. What is a massage therapist supposed to do?

First, determine if the pain is mechanical or non-mechanical. Mechanical pain can be correlated with position or movement. There is some movement that makes it worse and usually a position of ease where the pain lessens or does not hurt at all. Massage is generally very effective with mechanical pain. Non-mechanical pain is fairly constant and there is no correlation of the pain to position or movement. Non-mechanical pain is usually caused by pathology such as infection, cancer, disease, etc. One can try to bring the patient relief and may be successful but if significant reduction of the pain is not achieved in one session, the patient should be referred to a medical provider for diagnosis before further massage treatment is provided.

Layers of Muscles

 Along the spine are often the deepest layers of muscles that are the most problematic. The region

between the spinous process and the transverse process, sometimes called the “lamina groove” or the “paravertebral gutters” provides a corridor for a large group of muscles known as the paraspinal or paravertebral muscles. They are also called the erector spinae and transversospinalis muscles and are grouped into lumbar, thoracic and cervical regions, although they are continuous bands from sacrum to cranium. This muscle group can be several inches thick when well developed.

The erector spinae layer is the most superficial and consists of three muscles, the spinalis, the longissimus, and the iliocostalis, the latter of which spills out onto the posterior ribs. This group is sometimes referred to as the “superficial paraspinal muscles.” This group of muscles extend the spine and are ipsilateral lateral flexors, meaning they side-bend the torso to the same side they are on.

The deeper layer consists of two muscles, the rotatories and the multifidus, which lie deep within the lamina groove (trapezius, rhomboids, and latissimus dorsi). These two muscles are also extensors and additionally contralateral rotators, meaning they rotate the spine to the opposite side, so the ones on the left rotate the torso to the right. 

You are lucky if significant pressures affect these muscles at all, yet they have been proven to cause significant pain along the spine – a deep ache or worse.

We know massage therapists often end up hurting themselves trying to “dig” into these and other areas. Further, they often wind up causing more pain and sometimes hurting their clients in the process. It is not a good thing to try to stretch a muscle that has TrPs or areas of spasm which is

an approach done by well-meaning but under-educated therapists.

Positional release can treat these untouchable muscles but is extremely slow and is contraindicated with those who have stenosis, bone spurs, and/or herniated disc issues. If only there was a system of therapy that could address these (and other) untouchable muscles, that did not cause the patient any pain and was non-injurious to the therapist. Such a system would be evolutionary, right?

Neural Reset Therapy

Fortunately, there is such a system that has been taught for only five years that allows you to address the untouchable muscles and all the touchable ones as well. In addition, it has methods for treating other connective tissues and even scar tissues. This system was developed after decades of searching for a way to stimulate the nervous system in a manner elicits a lasting relaxation response by Lawrence Woods, a massage therapists from Indianapolis. He named the system Neural Reset Therapy (NRT.)

His three-course training in the NRT system is taught internationally by a group of eight instructors. It teaches the therapist how to apply gentle, non-threatening, yet overwhelming stimuli to the nervous system in such a way that the nervous system “resets” the target tissues to a healthy state of tonus that remains until something else “re-resets” them to less optimal levels. NRT goes beyond working with just the symptomatic soft tissues and actually “resets” the Body-Mind Maps in the brain and often corrects improper perceptions of neurological input, like phantom pain.

You can learn all about NRT at the website http://www.neuralreset.net/ and see the teaching schedules of all the NRT instructors. In 32 years I have never found a better way to address soft–tissue dysfunction so quickly and easily on me and on patients. NRT can help you and yours too, but only if you learn it.