Neurological Integration System

Restoring communication throughout your body

The Neurological Integration System (also referred to as Neurolink in New Zealand) aims to identify the underlying causes of the symptoms and signs of a wide-range of health problems and dysfunctions.

An NIS consultation involves a prioritised set of treatment protocols that evaluate your neurological circuitry and the body functions they represent. 

In simple terms this could be thought of like a list of 'checks' similar to one a mechanic would use when you put your car in for a service. The protocols evaluate all the causes that may have translated themselves into symptoms and the practitioner is the facilitator in asking the patients brain to recognise the data.

What happens at your NIS consultation?

1. We discuss your problem

Your osteopathic consultation takes a full history of your current problem and your past medical history in order to firstly check that osteopathic and NIS treatment is the most suitable choice for you.

It is important that we don't just look at what is hurting now: the brain regulates all body functions. A disturbance in the information transfer between your brain and a particular muscle can therefore cause a dysfunction in the related part of the body. If it affects the joints of the lower back, for example, the result could be lower back pain or pain potentially anywhere along the kinematic chain (feet, ankles, hips or knees).

2. Examination 

By stimulating the involved body systems through contacting various locations or muscles on your body, the nerve pathways that relate to a particular body system can be checked. Using simple muscle tests, feedback on function is obtained by assessing the muscle’s response.

3. Treatment

The 'somatosensory' area of the brain regulates the connection between the brain and the body. When a disturbance is recognised under examination by a weakened muscle, the nerve pathway not appropriately being governed by the brain is stabilised by simultaneous stimulation (gently tapping) of the somatosensory area while holding specific contact points. This is known as 'integration'.

• the theory behind this practice has been backed up by recent neurophysiological research: measurements of corticomuscular coherence between oscillatory signals in the brain and electrical activity recorded in muscles, has found the location of the control system to be within the somatosensory cortex [Kasuga et al., Neuroscience Research 2018; Witham et al., Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience 2010]

4. Result

Following 'integration' the nerve pathway has better stability and so the consequent affected body function is improved, for example inhibited ('weaker') muscles become engaged ('stronger').

Now the body can adapt to corresponding challenges in a more optimal way which typically means symptoms begin to improve. 

• Self-correction: once the brain 'recognises' the fault, it can initiate its own healing protocols to restore the circuit.

Key Goals:

• Restore communication between the brain and the immune, hormonal, and musculoskeletal systems.
• Address the root cause of symptoms (like chronic pain or fatigue) rather than just treating the symptoms themselves.

NIS is a completely safe, non-invasive, interesting and comfortable treatment. It does not involve any drugs or manual manipulation and is suitable for all ages.

• Consultations and treatment usually last about an hour. The first appointment may take a little more time.
  
• Results sometimes occur immediately, but usually after a few days.
• Depending on the duration and complexity of your problem, several appointments may be required.
  
• Please contact a practitioner to discuss your needs.
  

Our body is a community of billions of cells

NIS is a system of investigation to both isolate and correct faults in the cellular signaling process derived from all  human neurological interactions

How our nerve cells communicate

At the cellular level, a single neuron may receive thousands of signals from other neurons. The volume of the signal determines if an electrical impulse (action potential) is stimulated to fire.

The integration of information by the brain

On a larger scale, the brain integrates information from different senses (sight, sound, smell, taste & touch) to help you navigate the world. For example, when you catch a ball, your brain integrates:

• Visual data = the ball's path
• Proprioceptive data = the position of your limbs
• Motor data = the timing of your muscle contractions

Physical, emotional, or chemical stress can cause 'signal disconnects' (which could be compared to a blown fuse) between the brain and the body’s systems

• NIS protocols aim to restore those signals.
  

The integration of information by the brain

Image: Dorsal and lateral views of the connectivity backbone of human brain. Labels indicating anatomical subregions are placed at their respective centers of mass. Nodes (individual ROIs) are coded according to strength and edges are coded according to connection weight (see legend). Hagmann P, Cammoun L, Gigandet X, Meuli R, Honey CJ, Wedeen VJ, Sporns O, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Communication between points on the body

Nerve receptors

The surface of our body, our skin and the connective tissue just below it, is covered in nerve receptors that constantly send information via our nerves back to our central nervous system (spinal cord and brain).

Connective tissue

Not only that, but every part of our body is connected by our connective tissue (the clue is in the name!), often referred to as fascia. Some schools of thought talk about the fibres of the connective tissue, or fascia, as being like electrical wires that communicate a little like nerves. But those fibres are actually made from collagen and elastin, both of which are stable long molecules and are not actually able to conduct electricity.

However, those fibres do lie in a matrix of water, minerals, and larger molecules, and this matrix is able to conduct electricity

• water containing minerals is an excellent conductor.
  

All the cells of our body live within the web of our connective tissues, constantly busy maintaining, repairing and reorganising it:



• osteophytes live in our bones
• tenocytes live in our tendons
• fibroblasts live in our fascia, ligaments
• muscle cells are wrapped into bundles by connective tissue to form muscles
• neurons are wrapped into bundles to form nerves
• endothelial cells are layered within connective tissue membranes to form skin, mucous membranes and the walls of our blood vessels
  

Image: Fibroblasts in their web of connective tissue matrix. Judyta Dulnik, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Image: The continuum of fluid flow throughout the body. SEER, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons