FAQ’s For Clients

Is Neural Touch for me?

Although we have quite a track record with an amazing array of problems and conditions, nobody could say for sure. We can make two “claims” with assurance:

• If properly applied it will do you no harm.
  
• You will know within a relatively short time whether it is helping and if you want to continue.
  

This is impossible to answer, or even estimate. Practitioners have to make their own way on this one. Some factors include the area of the country, ones licensure, clientele, etc. Prices can be as low as $25, and as high as $200 per session. Unlike with massage, the cost does not seem to be as tied to the length of the session. When your body has absorbed about as much as it can handle for the session, there's no point in going further.

Back to Questions

How long does the session last?

There is a great deal of variability here as well. A significant factor is often what type of practice the therapist is in. Chiropractors and osteopaths generally do briefer sessions, sometimes as short as 10 to 15 minutes. Massage therapists are more oriented to sessions of an hour or so. Often the difference between the two extremes is determined by giving the client more and longer rest periods between procedures. This doesn’t necessarily give better therapeutic results, but can produce a more restful, indulgent “completed” feel to the session.

Back to Questions

How many sessions will I need?

This is so individual it would be irresponsible to answer in the abstract. Even after consulting with a trained therapist there’s no way to know for sure. Very often, two to four sessions are scheduled, generally at weekly intervals, though in some cases more frequent treatments can be useful. Most conditions respond in large measure to this series of sessions.

This is the ideal, but certainly not all cases go this smoothly. If a condition is more serious or chronic it may take several sessions to resolve. Indeed some conditions are so long-term, and complicated by age or other factors, that complete recovery is just not available. In these cases, ongoing treatment, at some agreed-upon interval is the only option.

Back to the original series. Following the last agreed-upon session is a good time to reassess and discus your situation. It seems to break down into three directions:

• Everything is fine. Good — you’re done. You might want, though, to discuss preventive maintenence for the future. You’ll have to decide what interval suits your schedule, stress levels, finances, etc. In traditional Chinese medicine, the minimum recommended maintenence is four times per year -- at change of season.

• No result. First off, make sure it really is nothing. We have an incredible ability to forget how bad something was once it’s a little better. But if there has been no change whatsoever, and your therapist has not thought of some particular procedure he or she left out and would like to try, Neural Touch may not be for you. It’s not even necessary to know all the reasons why. It simply does not work for everyone.

• Partial result. At this point you really have to take charge of your case. Your therapist may have recommendations as to what you could expect from further treatment, but the choice is up to you. Do you feel at this point that you are moving in the right direction and this is something you want to persue? If so, you can either discuss a further number of sessions or take it on a week-to-week basis.
  

• Just for reference: in most naturalistic or homeopathic treatments, the rule of thumb is one month of treatment per year a condition has existed. Neural Touch usually acts much more quickly than this, but if you’re interested in more than a temporary easing of symptoms you can’t be in too much of a hurry. Adjunct therapies such as homeopathy, herbs, dietary changes and the like can help expedite the process.

Practitioners vary in their approach to a therapeutic session, partly based on their profession and previous training. But there are some common elements:

• The treatment is almost always performed on a padded therapy table. The work may be done through loose, natural-fiber clothing. or the practitioner may need direct skin contact and ask that you disrobe to your underwear, and will cover your body with a sheet.
  
• After some form of interview or examination, the practitioner will have you lie down, usually prone (face-down). Then he or she will begin a variety of assessments: pressing, rolling, and shifting the skin in characteristic “moves” across your muscles and tendons. Sometimes you will be asked to cooperate by tightening some muscles, or resisting movements by the therapist. The session usually begins in the waist or hip area and progresses up the back to the shoulders and neck.
  
• At certain points in the session the work will stop and you will be left to relax for a couple of minutes or so. The practitioner may even leave the room. This is because certain neurological channels have had enough input for the time being. Your nervous system needs to process this information and make subtle changes before receiving more input. Many clients find themselves feeling extremely drowsy during the first two or three “rest periods” and briefly fall asleep. This is perfectly natural, and indicative of the releasing of accumulated tensions that you likely had begun to consider normal.
  
• After general back and shoulder areas have been addressed, the practitioner will continue on to more specific releases that have been indicated by your feedback and his or her examination.
  
• Usually more procedures will be performed after you turn supine (face-up). This is an opportunity to work on new areas, or access a different angle on sections already addressed earlier. After another brief rest you will sit up and a couple of final “fine-tunings” may be done on the neck and shoulder area. *Note* As you step down to the floor, it’s important you take your weight on both feet at once. This sets the work and begins reprogramming some symmetry into your weight-bearing structures.

Back to Questions


What can I expect after the session?

Of course everybody is different. Some people feel energized and jazzed, even finding it a little difficult to fall asleep the first night. Others feel a little lethargic, kind of “blah” for a few hours (it’s fine to honor what your body is asking for and take a nap!).

Almost everyone will feel at least some reduction of their symptoms immediately following the session. In fact you may feel radically better. But it’s important not to be concerned if you don’t feel totally “fixed” right away, because that’s not how the system works. Neural Touch is not a “bandaid” or analgesic, designed to mask symptoms; to affect a deeper change takes time. In fact the effects of one Neural Touch session can continue working on you for five to ten days. Each day you may feel changes happening in your posture, range of movement, breathing, even emotional states.

After a few days, some people feel they’re backsliding. Pains can revisit, sometimes in strange new ways. On rare occasions, old forgotten injuries can temporarily flare up. There can be mild headaches or stomach upset, or just a feeling of being somewhat off. Believe it or not, these are wonderful signs! They show that the work is really taking hold, and you can probably expect significant changes over the course of treatment.

Why is this so?
Your system may have tissue toxicity that is now releasing. Muscles that have been held in contraction build up waste products, especially lactic acid. When this is mobilized into your bloodstream in quantity, you may well experience levels approaching that of having run a marathon.

Your digestion and glandular functions are changing. When these organs begin functioning better than usual they sometimes need to “clean house” a little first. This can be a good opportunity to make some dietary (or other) upgrades, to help the process.

Your mechanical structure is changing. When muscular compensations and unsound postural or movement habits improve, some muscles and joints will have to work a little harder as they regain their proper function.

This is just the natural way of things. Many people have become disenchanted with medical methods that give temporary relief but don’t help (and sometimes worsen) the underlying conditions. Contrariwise, using methods such as homeopathy or Neural Touch sometimes necessitates retracing the route you took to get out of balance in the first place. Given the proper context and assistance, this is just the way body stresses unwind.

Back to Questions

What can I do to help the process between sessions?

Now we’re talking! Neural Touch can give the best, most lasting results if you discontinue certain habits that are causing/sustaining your condition and institute some new activities. These following recommendations are generally good practice, but particularly so during the course of treatment. Note that these suggestions are not meant to replace advice or instructions from your therapist/medical professional of choice.

1. Walk. It’s so simple, but can have profound results. Without actually causing pain, spend as much time walking as you reasonably can. Go for a minimum of 15 - 30 minutes per day. If necessary have two or three short walks rather than one marathon. We’re not talking about an aerobic “forced march.” Strolling, ambling, sauntering, moseying -- whatever you want to call it, but it should be easy, loose and enjoyable.

What’s so great about walking? There are almost too many benefits to be believed:
• Ease of use.Unlike many forms of remedial exercise, we already sort-of know how to do it. It involves no major learning curve or danger of strain or injury.

• Lymphatic drainage. The two major concentrations of lymphatic tissue in the body (not counting the spleen) are in the groin and armpits. Gentle walking massages these “pumps,” thereby cleansing all the body tissues.

• Therapeutic integration. Ideally, Neural Touch will unravel some habitual body stress patterns. But these patterns are not static, they’re a function of our habits of movement. A session will give you a window of opportunity, a period of ease and increased range of movement. If you take advantage of this and “move in” so to speak, the changes are more likely to become permanent. Use it or lose it.

• Brain work. If you do a normal cross-walk (swinging the left arm with the right leg, etc.) experts say you are integrating your brain hemispheres, improving all body functions, and making yourself smarter. Can’t beat it.

• Electrical stimulation. Our nerves and acupuncture meridians work by minute electromagnetic flows. The primary circuits run longitudinally in the body, and lengthwise in the limbs. When you walk, your arm circuits cross and recross your torso circuits, and your leg circuits cross and recross each other. If you recall your high school physics, this is the way electric generators work.

2. Take it easy. No heavy exercise or lifting on the day of treatment. After that, go ahead and move -- we were after all designed to. But be kind to yourself. This is not the time to begin rigorous new exercise or stretching programs. If you have a regular running or weight training routine, consider cutting way back, or even postponing it for a week or two. (No, you won’t die. . . or lose all your fitness.) Your may feel an unaccustomed burst of energy following your session. It’s important to not squander this, but rather let it internalize for tissue repair and nervous system reintegration.

3. Drink water. All of your body’s functions depend on water, and it is allotted according to demand. Diluting the waste products in muscle tissue will not efficiently happen unless there’s enough water. Even further down on the priority list is hydration of collagen tissue -- tendons, ligaments, fascia and intervertebral disks. If there’s not a surplus of available water for all the high-demand customers (liver, kidneys, gut, etc.) these connective tissues will shrink and lose their natural resilience.

How much is enough? According to some experts, one quart per 50 pounds of body weight per day. This may take some getting used to. But once you do you will wonder why you stayed unnaturally thirsty for so long. By the way, no other beverages do what water does best. Juices, sodas, coffee and tea do not have the same effects, and often can be drying to the system. Drink the purest water you can. If you drink distilled water for any extended period, make sure to replace essential and trace mineral you may be losing.
By the way, although all kinds of ills have been attributed to excessive salt consumption, some salt is necessary for proper functioning and electrolyte balance. Especially if you are drinking large amounts of purified water, exercising and sweating a lot, or live in a hot dry climate, it is recommended you add small amounts of sea salt to your drinking water. One teaspoon per gallon of water will keep your sodium and trace minerals in balance.

4. Get up off your seat. Especially on the day of treatment, don’t stay uninterrupted in a sitting position longer than about 30 minutes at a time. It only takes a minute or so of standing, stretching and walking around to break that compression on your buttocks, lumbar and coccyx that could interfere with therapeutic changes. The computer is a wonderful tool, but to hunch at it for hours at a stretch will suck out your brain and leave a dead, dry husk (not to mince words). This rule, by the way, only applies to sitting -- lying down or sleeping don’t have the same effect.

5. Use good body mechanics. Bend your knees when lifting. Sit, stand and move a little straighter. Breathe with your belly instead of your upper chest. Avoid reading in bed with your head and neck propped up with pillows.

6. Stand up symmetrically. When getting up from sitting or lying down, take your weight on both feet at the same time. Most physical conditions involve some imbalance between left and right sides of your body. While you’re in the “flux” state following a session, instill the habit of symmetry.

7. Avoid or minimize other forms of physically applied therapies. While massage, chiropractic adjustment, magnets, etc. all have something to offer, they can “antidote” and confuse some of the effectiveness of a Neural Touch treatment. Go back to these, if needed, a week after your course of treatment is over.

8. Avoid extremes of temperature. No blazing hot baths or showers (where you let the hot water “cook” your sore places. No ice packs. No heating or chilling ointments. Topical application of apple cider vinegar will quite nicely take the place of heat or cold, and actually works more deeply. You may also use arnica, Traumeel®, or Traumed®, or other homeopathic formulas, which come in topical and internal forms.

9. Take care of yourself. You may feel the need to sleep more than usual, including a daytime nap or two. Honor this. If you feel pain or discomfort, try a bath (not too hot) with Epson salts, or baking soda, or cider vinegar, or some herbal or aromatic preparation. Analgesics, such as aspirin or ibuprofen, are okay if not abused.

10. Stay in touch with your therapist. Don’t fret or feel alone with any responses you may have to the treatment. He or she can answer questions, and give you reassurance and further advice during this recovery period.

U.S. Bowen
Gene Dobkin, Director
P.O. Box 722
San Jacinto, CA 92583
seminars@usbowen.com
Phone - (951)-654-9907
Fax - (951) 602-6010