COMMON QUESTIONS
NETWORKSPINAL
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Instead of applying a force into the spine to an area that is guarded or locked, if we instead find an area of ease where the nervous system has the greatest chance of processing that input, a gentle touch can trigger greater self awareness within the body and therefore greater capacity to reorganise and heal.
Contrary to popular belief, greater force does not equate to greater result.
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Performed only by qualified chiropractors, a NetworkSpinal care session is called an entrainment.
In physics, an entrainment refers to multiple parts of a dissonant system coming together and vibrating as one cohesive and dynamic network.
In practice, a NetworkSpinal entrainment uses specific depths of gentle touch at precise areas along the spine to optimise the ability for the nervous system to self-organise, self-regulate and self-heal.
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NetworkSpinal integrates vagus nerve somatic exercises called SomatoRespiratory Integration or “SRI”.
SRI has been developed in tandem with NetworkSpinal as part of The 12 Stages of Healing framework & philosophy.
SRI exercises are body (somato) breath (respiratory) integration practices, focusing on specific branches of the vagus nerve, using touch, breath, movement and conscious focus to connect with our experience.
This process also helps us to re-connect to parts of ourselves that have been disconnected due to chronic-stress or trauma.
SRI is separate & distinct from breathwork. There are 12 specific SRI exercise for each of the 12 Stages, and are facilitated in 20 min 1-on-1 sessions within NetworkSpinal care, or as a standalone practice from home.
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The 12 Stages of Healing is a framework and philosophy created by Dr. Donny Epstein (Chiropractor) as part of his development of NetworkSpinal. It is available as a written work, and is utilised as an important tool of assessment, SRI facilitation and workshops.
12 Stages of Consciousness
Although they were developed alongside NetworkSpinal, the 12 Stages are a universal human experience that exists even outside of NetworkSpinal care. It is an examination of the human condition, the unique rhythms of life and the consciousness through which we experience our world.NetworkSpinal allows us to analyse the way these stages present in your body & your life, and alongside powerful entrainments, facilitate SRI to bring connection to the stage we are in.
Somatic Awareness, Acknowledgment & Acceptance with the stage we are in brings greater connection with life’s experiences, and can dramatically transform & propel us to new heights.
Conversely, not acknowledging the stage of healing or consciousness playing out in our body and our life can keep us repeating the same old patterns and cycles of behaviour.
The 12 Stages are innate and fundamental to the human experience. “12 step” programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous use a similar framework to the 12 Stages of Healing and attain remarkable success.
Alcoholics Anonymous achieve this, as we do in NetworkSpinal, by taking people through an exploration of human consciousness, to seek more connection in their body and their life. -
When you experience your body moving on the table, you are experiencing one of the wave phenomena that occur in NetworkSpinal care.
The wave is a way that the body unwinds any defensive, conditioned and inauthentic patterns of behaviour. The more refined and energy-efficient this signalling is, the better you can respond to your environment and express your authentic self.
This spinal wave is an involuntary and organic expression of the reorganisational ability of the nervous system in dissipating, reseting and recalibrating tension along the entire spine and connective tissue systems.
It is a strategy that develops over time and presents uniquely for each person.
This has been analysed since the 1990's by the STEM departments of multiple universities and is now recognised as the second only-known Central Pattern Generator (CPG) of the human body.
A CPG is the way your brain controls, activates and organises your sensorimotor strategies. This means the way you move your muscles, walk, run, behave, respond to your environment and express yourself.
When your brain activates all these responses, it does so in a way that is uniquely you. It is like your own signature or fingerprint. For example, the first known CPG is the human gait (walk), and technology today is capable of identifying an individual solely based on their gait. That's how individualised a CPG is.
Department of Electrical Engineering UCAL - NetworkSpinal and the wave phenomena research can be found here.
The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine - Research about the NetworkSpinal and wave phenomena as a central pattern generator (CPG) can be found here.
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Yes.
In a comprehensive study—conducted with over 2,800 participants and published by the University of California, Irvine (Departments of Neurobiology, Surgery, and Sociology)—researchers found that:
Patients under NetworkSpinal care experienced physiological and psychological changes, including increased flexibility of the spine, increased range of motion, improved mood and sense of relaxation, self-reported “wellness,” and greater capacity to cope with stressful situations.
The study highlights "statistically and clinically significant changes" — “demonstrating profound positive outcomes” across all measured wellness domains including;
Perception of Wellness (76% improvement),
Perception of Physical State (64% improvement),
Mental / Emotional State (64% improvement),
Stress Evaluation (66% improvement),
Life Enjoyment (69% improvement),
Overall Quality of Life (59% improvement).
What’s more, the study reveals that these benefits grow over time, with "progressively higher reported effects with time under Network Care," from 1 to 36 months when the study concluded.
This is because a healthy and coherent nervous system gives us a greater capacity to process energy & information, helping us to better express our authentic individual human experience.
TRAUMA,
CHRONIC-STRESS
& CHILDREN’S CARE
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NetworkSpinal is a framework that allows us to assess stress patterns in a person’s nervous system and precisely examine their level of adaptability or overwhelm at any given moment.
We evaluate a person’s chemical, physical and emotional stressors, both past and present, showing us the unique history of Fight-or-Flight and Rest-and-Repair in their body.
This reveals more than just the physical state of someone's health, and tells us how they are participating with life on a mental, emotional, social and energetic level.
Trauma fundamentally affects someone's nervous system and the way they experience, react to and engage with their world, often leaving long standing marks.
As part of our trauma informed framework, we will work with you to evaluate your PACE scores (Positive & Adverse Childhood Experiences) to see how your experiences have shaped the state of your nervous system and impacted the structures, behaviours and perceptions of your body and your life.
NetworkSpinal can be a powerful way to help change the state of someone's nervous system.
When the brain and body are more connected and coherent, the nervous system exhibits greater levels of resilience, adaptability and energy efficiency. The armouring, protection and hyper-vigilance that trauma brings can begin to diffuse and become integrated into the system as a learning experience, changing a person's relationship to it.
What a person had previously experienced as a wound then has the potential to be experienced as a gift, often inspiring others around them along the way.
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Our past may have shaped us, but it can also reshape us. Positive & Adverse Childhood Experiences or PACE scores are a way of measuring the impact of traumatic childhood experiences.
Press here to watch a PACE score presentation with resources.Research has shown that higher Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE scores) are associated with a significantly greater risk of negative physical, mental and social health outcomes in adulthood.
Whereas Positive Childhood Experiences (PCE scores) promote safe, stable and nurturing relationships and are associated with greater positive outcomes later in life.
PCE scores have the potential to negate the detrimental effects from high ACE scores. We cannot change what’s happened in our past or think out way out of it. We can however, through a somatic mind and body approach, change our relationship with, and the meaning we give to it.
As part of our trauma informed framework, we will work with you to evaluate your PACE scores to see how your experiences have shaped the state of your nervous system and impacted the structures, behaviours and perceptions of your body and your life.
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Yes. NetworkSpinal is gentle, non-invasive and perfectly safe for newborns, children, adults and seniors.
During childhood, the nervous system is incredibly adaptable and responsive to input as neurological patterns are being established through neuroplasticity. The brain lays down many neural pathways as a child interacts with their environment, and then consistently prunes off any pathways that are no longer used.
Excessive physical, chemical (including nutrient deficiencies) or emotional stress a child sustains will reinforce Fight-or-Flight pathways as learned neuro-behavioural patterns.
Press here to watch a PACE score presentation with resources.This is precisely why stress in these formative years has a lifelong impact on health expression, behaviour and illness rates.
NetworkSpinal can help regulate a child's nervous system through these crucial years of development.
Chiropractors are trained to assess developmental milestones in children and are often sought after by parents.
The results of the largest and most robust inquiry in Australia to date (found here) involving 21,874 submissions revealed:
98% of parents reported chiropractic helping their child.
99.7% of parents having positive experiences.
Zero cases of harm reported.
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As we are establishing greater awareness within your body, in the process of your nervous system finding areas of tension and unwinding those patterns, it can reconnect to certain experiences and sensations it had previously compartmentalised and disconnected from.
In these moments we can often re-experience an emotion or feeling we hadn't let ourselves fully experience at the time an event occurred. This is a natural phenomenon throughout the healing process called retracing. Retracing is expected, temporary and a good sign that energy is moving and connection is being made.
Emotion means “energy-in-motion”, and its purpose is to compel us to take action.
Research within this field was conducted by the renowned neuroscientist Candace B. Pert, a Nobel Prize nominee who’s book Molecules of Emotion explores the link between emotions and the mind-body connection.
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NetworkSpinal has demonstrated positive outcomes for improving HRV (Heart-Rate Variability), which is a gold standard measure of nervous system stress. Because of the strong correlation between HRV, vagus nerve tone and the parasympathetic (Rest-and-Repair) nervous system, NetworkSpinal can play a big part in regulating healthy vagal tone.
In fact, within SRI (SomatoRespiratory Integration exercise) as part of your NetworkSpinal care, we focus on specific branches of the vagus nerve, using hand positions, movement and focus to enhance connection and regulation.
A healthy vagus nerve (or healthy vagal tone) regulates cardiac, digestive and immune function. In order to have healthy vagal tone, the body needs to be able to engage its natural Rest-and-Repair state.
Stress, trauma and other nervous system overwhelm can engage the sympathetic Fight-or-Flight state for long periods of time, inhibiting the Rest-and-Repair functions.
NetworkSpinal can assist the body to naturally move from Fight-or-Flight into Rest-and-Repair, meaning healthier vagal tone, HRV, cardiac function, immune regulation and digestive function.
NetworkSpinal and HRV research can be found here.
Further chiropractic and HRV research can be found in article one and article two.
CIRCUMSTANCES
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It is perfectly fine, and in fact encouraged, to be entrained before and after surgery.
We have found people who maintain their entrainments tend to handle their recovery with more grace.
The more flexible your nervous system is, the more flexible you are in life.
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Absolutely. Many pregnant women have utilised NetworkSpinal during their trimesters to allow more ease within their own changing bodies and a more enjoyable and comfortable labour.
This is also a question of epigenetics, which is the study of how an organism responds to environmental changes, both positively and negatively.
Epigenetically, a developing foetus is receiving signals from the mother about her current environment (both within her body and outside of it), conditioning the baby's own developing nervous system.
The safer an expectant mother feels within her body and her environment, the less stressed her baby is.
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"The purpose of pain is to interrupt your life." - Dr. Donny Epstein (DC), developer of NetworkSpinal.
Pain is an intelligent response and an invitation for change. Unless the necessary changes in perception, structure or behaviour are taking place in your life, you will still have the experience of pain.
The objective of NetworkSpinal is greater nervous system coherence and regulation. As your nervous system changes, it is very common that the body is able to resolve the symptoms (and more), however, NetworkSpinal is not a treatment for pain, as that is not the objective.
Your body orchestrates its own healing, so pain can resolve when it is no longer needed, and not a moment sooner.
Instead of asking Will this help my pain?, what happens if you ask How is my pain trying to help me?
A study of 165,569 adults found opioid pain relief prescription was 55% lower among chiropractic clients compared with those not under care.
Press here to read full study. -
In the process of reorganisation, older layers of tension or experience can surface which the body has learned to suppress or disconnect from.
This phenomenon is known as retracing.
Retracing can be an emotional, physical or chemical re-experiencing of a discomfort or sensation from the past temporarily as the body processes through it.Retracing can manifest emotionally (anger or sadness), physically (discomfort moving to another area or old pain resurfacing) or chemically (fever, mucous or nausea).
Please mention this to your chiropractor and know that this means you're moving in a positive direction.
Research within this field was conducted by the renowned neuroscientist Candace B. Pert, a Nobel Prize nominee who’s book Molecules of Emotion explores the link between emotions and the mind-body connection.
THIS REMINDS ME OF…
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Tension starts in your nervous system.
Whilst there are many different types of massage techniques that can be beneficial at certain times, it is worth remembering that tension held within tissues is being held there by your central nervous system.
Even though a muscle is tight, it does not begin at the muscle.Muscles are always controlled by nerves, which send signals from the brain to tighten and brace when the nervous system feels threatened or overwhelmed — often times even after the actual threat has long since passed.
This is the fight or flight feedback loop the body may be stuck in. So addressing the nervous system first can be a powerful way to reorganise tension globally throughout the entire body.
In fact NetworkSpinal chiropractors measure for both tension and laxity. Complete disengagement or lack of healthy tone is also a sign of stress response or overwhelm in a person’s system.
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NetworkSpinal holds to the original chiropractic philosophy, which is that the body is able to heal itself provided there is no interference in the central nervous system.
NetworkSpinal is different because our assessment tells us where and how to make a contact on the spine, using the least amount of force to create the greatest amount of change. No manual cracking is used and contacts are made using safe and gentle touch at specific areas of the spine.
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No.
NetworkSpinal is unique and distinct from modalities like Bowen and Reiki in its assessment, application and philosophy.
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No.
Although both these modalities' origins stem from older versions of NetworkSpinal and were adapted externally, they are not the same thing.
Due to its complexity, NetworkSpinal can only be practiced by health professionals who meet the below requirements:
Completion of a 5 year full-time university degree as a Doctor of Chiropractic.
Participation in and maintaining ongoing certification for NetworkSpinal through it's governing body, EpiEnergetics.
Must hold a current AHPRA registration (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency) or overseas equivalent.
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You may notice an overlap of concepts among other vitalistic philosophies and modalities. This demonstrates how the same principles within NetworkSpinal are part of the collective human experience. NetworkSpinal utilises the specificity of Western scientific application combined with ancient Eastern philosophies of life.
Although it may seem like other interventions, results from meticulous scientific research on NetworkSpinal have demonstrated novel outcomes in central nervous system optimisation and human consciousness never before seen, leading the way into exciting new possibilities for humanity.
OUR PRACTICE
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NetworkSpinal as a spinal-based healthcare system can be very exciting. Seeing the care and reading about it very often intrigues people to try this for themselves.
For those who would like to sample the care, but are unsure how they feel about ongoing visits or plans, the best course of action is to experience the Initial Consultation process.
This process will introduce NetworkSpinal in an easy to digest way, where you can enjoy the process of the assessment, spoken consultation with your chiropractor and see the results we find in a detailed and well paced manner.
With two Initial Consultation pathways to choose from, there are more options than ever to engage with NetworkSpinal care.
Pure Initial Consultation: High-value 2-visit consultation with 3 entrainments.
Holistic Initial Consultation: Comprehensive 4-visit consultation. You will receive a total of 5 care sessions, made up of 4 entrainments and 1 SRI.
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Whether you live in Australia or overseas, we have a list of NetworkSpinal chiropractors to direct you to.
You may also live outside of the Sunshine Coast and wish to travel to us to receive care.
Simply reach out via our “Contact Us” page and explain your circumstances so we can assist you.
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Entrainments are delivered by the chiropractor in a group setting and can take 15 - 20min depending on what your body needs on the day.
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Health is more than just the presence or absence of pain. We regularly monitor a combination of indicators to assess change within your body.
These include physical assessments of muscle activation, brain/body communication, balance tests, spinal range of motion, degree of spinal cord tension, and posture analysis. When required, x-ray analysis is also utilised.
Additionally, we track and match the changes occurring in your spine to the changes you're experiencing in your life on mental, emotional, social, life enjoyment and life fulfilment levels.
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To deliver best results it is likely that your chiropractor will recommend a program of care to help create neuroplastic change in your body and your life, not just a temporary fix.
Just as we don't expect one exercise session to build muscle, or expect one night of sleep to keep us going for the week, or expect one day of healthy eating to sustain our vitality long term, we cannot expect one chiropractic session to turn our life around.
The NetworkSpinal entrainment sessions themselves are not an event, but rather a process towards long term health and vitality. Therefore, for those wishing to transform their lives, building repetition and momentum with multiple sessions is recommended and expected.
We are aware that sustainable change requires sustainable lifestyle integration, so we have built programs of care to account for this. Read more about these in the "Care Programs & Payments" page.
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Yes.
Through the NetworkSpinal lens we assess nutrition differently. We want to know if the foods you eat are helping or hindering your level of nervous systems coherence. Your chiropractor will be able to track changes to your nutrition, and report back on how it effects your presentation.
Our topics include: anti-nutrients, ancestral nutrition, leaky gut and inflammation.
TESTING
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CHRONIC-stress impacts the perceptions, behaviours and structures of your body and spine.
A major way to assess the structural changes caused by stress is through x-rays.
X-rays can demonstrate how long CHRONIC-stress has been present, and how long term spinal cord tension patterns affect different types of tissue (such as changes to spinal curves, thinning of spinal discs or arthritic decay).
We do specific analyses on certain x-rays to establish a baseline of structural changes caused by stress, which is then compared with new views at a later date.
When you see, you know, and when you don’t see, you guess.
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At Seeking More we provide access to these tests for our Holistic clients at no cost.
We do this because we understand that the health of your body is a reflection of the health of your mitochondria.
Poor outcomes in the blood tests listed below are ultimately related to poor metabolic / mitochondrial function.Metabolic / mitochondrial testing is all about testing the health and wellbeing of the most important part of your bodies, the mitochondria.
Mitochondria are special parts found within almost all the cells of your body.
Their primary role is to produce energy so you can live, by creating an electrical charge, proteins and heat.
Metabolism refers to how your mitochondria process food (blood sugar, fat and sunlight), turning things like excess saturated fat and carbohydrates into electrons (electricity), body heat, carbon dioxide and water.
Also known as your “metabolic rate”, this rate will rise and fall with your overall health.Metabolic health refers to your mitochondria acting like tiny “factories”. They are involved in methylation, pH balance (alkalinity & acidity), immune responses (cytokines & inflammation), and coordinating a healthy REDOX balance (Oxidants & antioxidants).
Mitochondria are also involved in producing an array of bio-products such as hormones, neurotransmitters and proteins.Mitochondria also play a primary role in epigenetic changes and gene expression, by monitoring the environment within your body or the environment outside of your body.
Blood testing will begin as early as your Holistic Initial Consultation and re-tested twice more during our 12 month Holistic care programs.
Here are the bio-markers we may track:Complete Fatty Acids profile, including EPA & DHA, to ascertain your metabolic-health and the function of your mitochondria.
Homocysteine, high levels are correlated with CHRONIC-stress, and to changes with mitochondria and metabolic-heath.
CoQ10 & Glutathione, two strong markers for also tracking your metabolic-health and the function of your mitochondria.
Vitamin D, to correlate the metabolic changes present with healthy sun exposure.
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At Seeking More we provide access to these tests for our Holistic clients at no cost.
We do this because we understand that the health of your body is a reflection of the health of your mitochondria.
Poor outcomes in DEXA scan results are ultimately related to poor metabolic / mitochondrial function.A DEXA scan or dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan, is the gold standard in measuring body composition.
By using minimal x-rays* to measure fat, muscle and bone mass, we are able to construct an image of your entire body.
Once conducted we then assess where you are holding fat.
It shows the amount of “neutral fat” (sub-cutaneous adipose tissue or under the skin fat)
and the amount of “bad fat” (visceral fat around your organs). This bad fat correlates directly with metabolic disorder and is a major risk factor in heart disease and diabetes.DEXA scans assess your muscle mass.
The more healthy muscle mass you have correlates with less metabolic disorder, and more health & longevity. We can also determine your muscle mass potential and can serve as a future fitness goal.DEXA scans are also used to assess bone mass and bone density.
Weakened bones and bone mass are correlated with poor metabolic health, and poor outcomes in aging, and longevity.*Less than background radiation.
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At Seeking More we provide access to these tests for our Holistic clients at no cost.
We do this because we understand that the health of your body is a reflection of the health of your mitochondria.
Poor outcomes with pH balance are ultimately related to poor metabolic / mitochondrial function.Medical studies and scientific literature have, for a long time, correlated low pH (high acidity) in your body with a disease state, such as CHRONIC-stress, metabolic syndrome, type-2 diabetes, heart disease and even cancer.
Here at Seeking More we understand that these disease states, and the underlying high acidity, is a result of changes taking place within your mitochondria.
We acknowledge that these changes to pH balance can create a prime environment within your body for disease to thrive.
When your pH test results are correlated with our other screenings and tests, we can create a richer and more detailed picture of the state of your mitochondria, the state of your health and the state of your life.