DYNAMIC NEUROMUSCULAR STABILIZATION

Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization  or DNS is a system of assessment, treatment and exercise that is integrative and holistic in its approach to address pain syndromes and movement dysfunctions.  Developed by Dr. Pavel Kolar from the Prague School of Rehabilitation and Manual Medicine, it is truly a groundbreaking neurodevelopmental approach and quite revolutionary in its use of reflexes inherent to the body.

I was blessed to have taken Course A of the DNS program back in 2010.  Two DNS certified instructors held a four-day seminar-workshop at the Gleneagles Hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  It was a convention of physical therapists, osteopaths and chiropractors brought together by a common desire to acquire an entirely new learning experience.  I was eventually able to pass the exam and become Course A certified.

The culturally and professsionally diverse class

Breathing is the single, most fundamental movement of the human body.  There is no movement pattern of the human body that does not involve breathing.  Can you persist in any functional activity without breathing? No.  This puts the diaphragm in the limelight as an essential muscular component of any movement pattern.

The DNS paradigm recognizes this and is actually the first school of thought that emphasized it and delved into it in such detail.  It goes so far as to say that no successful movement rehabilitation can be achieved if the proper breathing pattern is not reinforced.  To formulate a summation: breathing is the key to proper movement, core stabilization, and joint alignment.

Stomach in, chest out? That's wrong!!!

The DNS paradigm introduces exercises based on a neurodevelopmental approach.  That means they want you to learn movement and strengthen your muscles in the same manner and sequence that you learned them growing up from infancy.  This effectively engages the core muscles while integrating proper breathing techniques as you exercise.  Core stability is one of the goals of the DNS program.

Notice the similarities.

The most fascinating aspect of DNS though is their use of reflex zones located within the body that elicits an involuntary reflex movement pattern embedded within our central nervous system.  These patterns are normally evoked in infants as they go through a sequence of motor development as they growing up and learn to move.  Stimulating these points is like giving the body and the nervous system a review of proper movement coordination and modulation.  The result of this intervention is truly astounding!

Note: the movements of the patient in the are involuntary and are elicited by proper positioning and stimulation of the reflex zones.

The true beauty that I see in the DNS paradigm is that we are basically "restoring" the body's systems to what it should have been.  And no matter how astounding and revolutionary the methods may seem, we are just finding out and using what God had already put in place.

Psalm 139:13-15

New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,