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What exactly is pain?
Pain is thought to be caused by the excitation of small nerve fibers known as C fibers. The presence of pain or “nocioception” blocks the perception of movement in the painful area. Proprioception is the awareness of movement. Once pain is gone, the first thing people say is “how great it is to move without pain or fear of pain increasing”. The question is how can we replace nocioception (pain) with proprioception (sense of movement) in most people? The answer may be PRRT.
What is PRRT?
PRRT or Primal Reflex Release Technique is a maneuver which uses reflexes for resetting or reprogramming the nervous system. The technique was created by John Iams, PT. Iams refers to two primal reflexes in particular, the withdrawal and startle. Both are hard wired into our spinal cord and brain stem before birth. As higher centers of our brain develop, we function more from these areas, and have an option to override the reflexes which dominated us in infancy at the spinal cord and brain stem levels. Reflexes continue to influence our behavior and health throughout our life even though in the background. The withdrawal and startle reflexes may become in a hyper excited state, which may be caused by unresolved pain in our bodies. Primarily PRRT identifies highly sensitive areas in the body where these normal reflexes are in overdrive.
How does PRRT work?
PRRT’s exam identifies areas in the body where these hyper excited reflexes may be, and in a matter of seconds, they can be regulated to decrease or eliminate pain. The theory with PRRT is that abnormal responses to pain and stress occur when basic or primal reflexes are overactive. This presents itself as some commonly observed abnormal responses in pain patients, including: exaggerated startle reflex (jumping easily when hearing a loud noise or feeling pain), exaggerated withdrawal reflex (pulling away dramatically from touch), and gasping, grimacing or grabbing at a painful area of the body. The nervous system responses can be neutralized using PRRT and home exercises. When the reflexes are exaggerated, the stress response is also exaggerated, and this perpetuates pain and tension. PRRT helps break the cycle by “resetting the circuits” in the nervous system to process stimuli more normally. When it works, the results are often quite dramatic. For more information and testimonials check out www.thePRRT.com.
What is treatment for PRRT like?
PRRT looks different than other physical therapy techniques commonly seen in the clinic. After taking a history and looking at movement abilities, the physical therapist will touch certain key areas of your body to test for tenderness or tightness. Then the physical therapist treats these areas with various techniques, usually tapping with fingers or a small hammer on a part of the body held in a certain position. The tapping movements activate opposing muscle groups in the painful areas, a process that can lead to immediate pain relief. It will usually take several minutes to find the areas to be treated, and another 15-20 minutes to treat the necessary areas. Other manual therapy techniques or modalities may be an adjunct to treatment. Your physical therapist will explain how to do exercises and relaxation techniques at home, to sustain your improvements. The tapping treatment must be administered by another person, because the timing of the taps must be a surprise to the person being treated. Your physical therapist can train a friend or family member to do the tapping.
How many treatments are needed?
Usually you will feel significantly better within four visits if you are going to respond to PRRT. If you do not feel a difference in that time, then PRRT is not the answer for you. After the fourth visit, you may need further treatment, but probably less often than the initial weekly series, and you should be able to do a lot more on your own to help maintain yourself. In most cases, the treatment benefits are long lasting. Some repeated treatment may be needed depending upon factors such as psychosocial stress, general nutritional status, or injury.
THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY PAULA ASHBAUGH, MPT ATC.
BOTH JASON LUND MSPT AND PAULA ASHBAUGH MPT ATC ARE TRAINED IN PRRT TECHNIQUES.
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