Understanding the Connection Between Stress and Health
Most people recognise that stress can affect how they feel. It can influence sleep, muscle tension, energy levels, concentration and even how the body responds to pain.
Usually stressful experiences are processed and resolved without issue. Other times, the body's response to stress can linger long after the original event has passed. NET is designed to help identify and address these unresolved stress responses.
How Does NET Work?
Neuro Emotional Technique (NET) is a mind-body approach developed by Chiropractor Dr Scott Walker in the 1980s. It combines principles from chiropractic care, the biopsychosocial model and traditional Chinese medicine.
NET uses muscle testing alongside a structured process to identify stress-related patterns and responses. The goal is to help the nervous system respond more appropriately to experiences that may still be triggering an unnecessary stress response. Think of it like your body is still setting of a fire alarm when the fire was put out long ago!
Many people seek NET as part of their care when they feel that stress may be contributing to how they are feeling physically or emotionally.
What Is an Unresolved Stress Response?
When we experience a stressful event, the body naturally activates a range of physical and emotional responses.
Most of the time these responses settle once the situation has passed. Occasionally, however, the response may continue to influence how the nervous system reacts, even when the original stressor is no longer present.
This may contribute to ongoing patterns of tension, anxiety, emotional reactivity or physical discomfort in some people.
What is Neuro Emotional Technique (NET?)
What Does the Research Say?
Research funded by the ONE Research Foundation has reported improvements in pain, disability and inflammatory markers following NET care in people with chronic low back pain.
Additional research involving cancer patients experiencing traumatic stress used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain activity before and after NET treatment. Researchers observed changes in activation within brain regions associated with stress processing following care.
While research into NET is continuing to evolve, these findings suggest it may have a role in helping people better manage stress-related responses.
Is NET Right for You?
NET may be worth considering if you feel that stress, past experiences or emotional challenges are affecting your health, wellbeing or quality of life.
NET can be integrated with chiropractic treatment to help address both physical and stress-related factors that may be influencing how you feel and function.
If you would like to see whether stress could be an issue for you, take the Wellness Check below:
