Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization
(DNS) is an eclectic new manual rehabilitative approach based on developmental movement principles, which is rapidly gaining
international popularity among health care providers, trainers, athletes and patients. Based upon the brilliant work of Professor
Pavel Kolar at Charles University's Motol Hospital in Prague, DNS evolved in Central Europe's Czech Republic and is the culmination
of the evolving clinical methods from the internationally renowned "Prague School" of Manual Medicine and Rehabilitation.
DNS is designed
to stimulate movement control centers in the brain in order to activate the body's "stabilizing system". This allows
for improved body awareness, posture and respiration, improving the quality of specific and general exercises. DNS techniques
stimulate the brain, which controls all muscles, and the muscles in turn move and protect all joints. DNS stabilizes the body
by re-establishing the precise postures the child utilizes as it matures to crawl and upright itself in order to stand and
walk. The method helps to restore the structural and postural alignment of the body's neuromuscular skeletal system by invoking
a full body "global" motor pattern.
DNS is based
upon the scientific clinical standard utilized by pediatric neurologists known as ontogenesis, which is the maturation of
the human from conception to full maturation. Simply stated, ontogenesis is the process of growing up. A critical part of
ontogenesis is developmental kinesiology, which is the way that humans gain control of their body movement as they mature.
At birth, the newborn has no conscious body control. As the infant grows, he or she establishes the ability to control movement
of body regions, known as Partial Motor Patterns. These patterns combine to establish Global Motor Patterns, which form the
foundation of human movement. They are activated in the specific sequence of increasing complexity during the postural development
in the first months of a child's life. Global motor patterns remain essential for control of posture and stability of the
spine - the pivotal center of the entire locomotor system throughout the life of the individual.
The human
locomotor system (the combines body systems that allow human to move, which make up about 75% of body weight) can lose its'
optimal function through life, leading to compromised function, stabilization, postural, respiratory and movement. These compromises
can lead to acute pain episodes or, worse, to lead to chronic recurrent pain syndromes. How does this occur? Causative factors
can include poor posture, injury, deconditioning, emotional stress, and weight gain.
DNS therapy
stimulates the patient's global motor patterns and, exploiting the plasticity (adaptability) of the brain, optimizes
physiological connections to improve global (whole body) or local (ex/ shoulder, low back, knee, etc.) function. The spinal-joint
manipulation, muscle relaxation and the soft tissue release procedures are all conducted in the postural positions of ideal
movements of an infant (crawling and turning). In these positions of support the maximum spinal stability and optimal global
joint positioning ("centration") of the entire body are achieved.
During
DNS therapy, gentle pressure is applied to the body while the patient is positioned in specific, ideal positions that correspond
to that of the infant during critical stages of development. This pressure stimulates a global motor reaction which minimizes
muscle imbalances, relieves painful muscle spasms, improves spinal stability, and encourages postural awareness. Over time,
through repetition of the customized DNS exercises (taught in the clinic & then continued independently at home), spinal
stability becomes subconsciously habituated or automated.
The results
achieved by DNS are superior to conventional rehabilitation methods, who tend to address the problem "locally".
DNS therapy integrates increased brain stimulation with manipulation, mobilization, postural awareness, repiratory training,
exercise, and education to achieve optimal global function.
