Neurostructural Integration Technique
by Kent McKeithan and Dorothy Caudill

“Before my first session with Kent, I had excruciating pain in my foot. I had what is called plantar fasciitis for three years. After I had been on my feet for about an hour, I was in so much pain I could hardly work at my job, which was at a doctor’s office.”

This is Betty Smith, a retired medical administrator and very active gardener, describing her experience with Neurostructural Integration Technique as administered by Kent McKeithan in Winston-Salem. She goes on to elaborate the treatments she received. “I had seen three doctors [M.D.s], one orthopedic surgeon, and a podiatrist. I’d had supports made to wear in my shoes, which [only] made the pain worse. I’d had to wear flat shoes – no heels – during those three years.

“I saw an article in the Winston-Salem Journal about the work Kent McKeithan was doing, and testimonies from a couple of people who had benefited from the sessions they had with Kent. I told my husband I was going to make an appointment to see him. I said it might be money wasted, but that it wouldn’t be the first nor last time I wasted money.

“This was the best thing I’d ever done for myself.

“After the first session with Kent, which was on a Friday afternoon, my pain was almost gone. We had already planned a trip to South Carolina to the outlets on Saturday… I kept telling my husband I knew I would be up all night with pain, because this is what I was used to after constant pain for the three years.

“Saturday night came and went – no pain. Sunday morning – no pain. And I wore shoes with small heels to church – still no pain. I could hardly believe that, after one session with Kent, my foot wasn’t hurting, nor was it swelled….”

This is the ongoing success of work begun by Australian Tom Bowen who, in the mid 1950s, developed a treatment modality that, during his lifetime, brought profound pain relief and permanent healing to many thousands of people. Since his death, through the work of those who've followed in his footsteps, millions worldwide have permanently overcome dysfunctions including Tempromandibular Joint Syndrome, Degenerative Disc Disease, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Tennis Elbow and as Betty Smith’s account illustrates, Plantar Fasciitis, to name just a few.

What Is It?
Neurostructural Integration Technique (NST) is a powerful system of intervention in dysfunctional musculo-skeletal patterns. These dysfunctional patterns may be acute or long-held; they may be physical-trauma induced or the result of emotional wounding held in the body.

How Does It Work?
The technique itself addresses specific muscle groups and nerve plexi at the golgi tendon level, such that fibers which have been chronically activated, or “switched on” are deactivated; and vice-versa for those that are “switched off.” The result is not a reversal from “on” to “off” but a return to tonus, a relaxed state of preparedness to act.

Appropriately applied throughout the body by the practitioner, the technique not only provides release at the myo-fibril level, but cumulatively at the whole body level. This means that all of the micro-relationships that have accumulated in the body, fiber by fiber, are corrected in the proper order. When applying this to plantar fasciitis, for example, micro-relationships are corrected in the pelvis, hamstrings and gastrocnemius, as well as in the ligaments and fascial tissue of the foot. This results in freedom from pain through a return to the correct relationship with gravity; or in other words, proper balance of the body.
What’s A Session Like?
The technique is begins with the client lying prone on a suitable surface, usually a bodywork table arranged and padded for maximum comfort. The practitioner addresses the client's body with manipulations called “moves.” These moves – gentle rollover motions – are like a plucking or strumming motion and may be perceived by the client as a tweak or a pinch, as a rubbing motion, or simply as pressure on a particular area of the body. The moves are inserted at key points that have been found to provide relaxation programming to specific body areas. They encourage the body, in all its minute parts, to return to the relationships whose designs or patterns are held in the chromosomes.

This release and return begins immediately, and continues to take place over a period of days, during which time the client may undergo a range of responses including simple, quick release, a return of some portion of the pain of the original physical trauma, emotional upset, nausea, headaches, lethargy, or extreme high energy. From the client's point of view a quick healing is obviously the ideal result. However the practitioner has limited control over this aspect of the healing and must support the client while the process is occurring. A list of recommended actions is provided to the client on leaving the office; phone support is available, and occasionally extra treatments are arranged.

A client will usually notice some results immediately. For some one session is sufficient; and in most, clients will find resolution of the presenting complaint within three weekly sessions. In small number of clients, particularly those with complaints of long-term duration, four to six sessions are necessary. Another, still smaller group, respond in ten or more treatment sessions; and there is a small percentage who can perceive no change. For clients whose long held pain or misalignment is fundamental to the present injury, relief of the current trauma may provide the opportunity to address correction of the underlying condition. Some clients may require further treatment for this level of healing to occur.

Kent McKeithan and Dorothy Caudill comprise Transformative Bodywork. They welcome your appointment or call for more information. Transformative Bodywork is located at 147 Columbine Drive, Winston-Salem, NC 27106. Phone 336-761-0501.