Frequently Asked Questions

NMT is good for most soft-tissue driven pain and dysfunction. It may be used in many ways. Firstly, it solves pain derived from soft tissue, including connective tissue.

NMT should be used before having a more invasive procedure, like surgery. It may be helpful for pre-operative pain and hard-to-explain post-op pain. It can be used for performance enhancement and healthy tissue maintenance.

It is particularly good at solving enigmatic pain puzzles associated with myofascial pain..

NMT relies on addressing six major components:

1. Firstly, we address all forms of muscle injury from overload, overuse, misuse, disuse and abuse.
2. We also think of the body in terms of neurological wellbeing, both cognitively and mechanically.
3. Posture and subsequent movement are assessed.
4. We always identify and deactivate all trigger point contributions to pain and dysfunction.
5. Attention is paid to educating the patient on what is going on in their body. We call this pain neuroscience education.
6. Lastly, we try to identify, modify or remove all relevant perpetuating factors. These factors can include ergonomics, sleep, nutrition and stress etc.

The overall result is a swifter recovery from pain and better movement.

Myofascial pain is defined by the presence of active trigger points in the muscle. You can also have latent trigger points that, despite not causing spontaneous pain, can lead to performance deficits.

These very common latent points can revert to active ones leading to unwarranted pain.

Relieving the pain of MPS was the life’s work of trigger point pioneers Janet Travell MD and David Simons MD who co-wrote the seminal texts “Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction – The Trigger Point Manuals’.

Trigger points are discreet, painful spots found within dense bands of skeletal muscle.

They can be locally tender, but more often send pain to far distant parts of the body. For example, there is a spot in the calf muscle that can set off jaw pain.

I kid you not. They are also great masqueraders. They can mimic nerve pain and organ pain and numbness, tingling, and burning symptoms.

The standard of service is positioned to exceed the highest levels of massage training in the country.

No other massage therapists have the same qualifications or understanding of anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, and pain science of the body.

With this base knowledge, the best hands-on therapy can be applied.

The first session is what we call an Initial Evaluation. There is a lot of information gathering, a postural and dynamic assessment, followed by clinical reasoning, and treatment planning.

The treatment part will involve trigger point therapy, neuromuscular techniques, and nervous system strategies.

This advanced massage therapy restores musculoskeletal balance, symmetry, and conditioning.

Each subsequent session strategy is determined and modified after patient feedback. Seldom are any two successive sessions the same.

All techniques have been compiled and road-tested over the years on thousands of patients.

They are based on current science. Stew has added pain neuroscience education to the manual techniques. These techniques are now more dynamic.

You will not be lying passively in the same position throughout the treatment.  There will also be constant patient feedback to enable refinement and tolerance of the techniques.

NMT has origins in ayurvedic and chiropractic medicine. It’s been around in the US since the 1940s.

The grandfather of NMT is considered to be Raymond Nimmo DC who rejected the ‘bone out of position’ view of chiropractic medicine.

He believed that both tight muscles, and weak, inhibited muscles determined joint position and function. There is a European version of NMT that has been around since the 1930s.

The application is slightly different in that it uses short, repeated thumb strokes.

Stew stands on the shoulders of many giants.

The first person to popularize NMT in the US was Paul St John. He then taught Judith DeLany.

DeLany and Leon Chaitow have authored the 2 volume masterpieces ‘Clinical Applications of Neuromuscular Techniques’. (Stewart has studied with Paul, Judi and Leon, and taught for Judi from 2005-2009.)

Other pioneers in the field include Jan Dommerholt, Bob Gerwin MD, David Butler, and Adriaan Louw. These famous clinicians are also prolific authors.