This is the place

Also has anyone been successfully doing NCR at home? I know there is a guide out there but I've always been too nervous to mess with it myself

What does adjusting the sphenoid mean and what is NCR?

Posted by: Kate13

What does adjusting the sphenoid mean and what is NCR?

Reading the articles and using the forum search function for unfamiliar terms might help with basic questions. The sphenoid is a cranial bone located behind the maxilla, which articulates with 8 other bones, making it thought to be a linchpin in realigning the rest of the skull. NeuroCranial Restructuring (NCR) involves inflating small balloons past the turbinates in the nose into the nasopharyx where they press against the sphenoid bone in an effort to release tension along the cranial sutures.

@spheny I've been doing this glabella punch for a couple weeks. I'm not sure if it's having any impact, but I'm not seeing any harm so I'm continuing with it. I tend to push up my palate with my thumbs after, and definitely get some releases, in the same areas where I stretch my neck and yawn.

I don't think I will ever do NCR by myself, and unfortunately, there is no professional in my area who does it. But it's exercises like these and yawning that give me hope we can adjust everything using the force of our own bodies.

Oddly enough, I have a horizontal wrinkle over my glabella that formed in my very early twenties! I'm really curious to see if the releases do anything to that line.

Posted by: Sclera

I don't think I will ever do NCR by myself, and unfortunately, there is no professional in my area who does it. But it's exercises like these and yawning that give me hope we can adjust everything using the force of our own bodies.

I believe a lot of regular chiropractors perform what they call "nasal release" or "nasal specific," which doesn't involve the targeted proprioceptive testing or positioning that NCR practitioners use. I'm not sure how much of that aspect is legitimate anyway and self-treatment doesn't include it. So you could try chiropractors in your area.

@apollo - I'll look into that, thanks!

I found a couple more exercises that I’ve begun. At the end, I also hook my thumbs to my palate and pull forward (max one to two seconds), which creates a lot of releases and pops.

https://healingbyyang.com/infertility-and-sphenoid/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEH4m6ici1g&t=2s

I was intrigued by the photo of the exercise, and really didn’t pay attention to any of the infertility aspect of the article.

Experiences so far, though I'm being cautious:

• Felt immense pressure along the bridge of my nose, zygomatic bones, and forehead similar to when I hard mew
• Canines ached for at least ten minutes after the exercises
• Head felt very light for the rest of the night, almost like it was a bobble head toy
  • Did NOT feel light headed, though. More like I had just had an hour massage
• Posture improved immediately
• Mackenzie tucked and then turned my head, the releases were in my shoulders and first ribs

Even today, my nose is feeling pressure even though I’m not hard mewing at the moment, and I am able to take in much more air than before (which was already improved since I started tongue and body posture improvements).

I have an endonasal technique evaluation appt coming up, but I’m still a bit afraid of the procedure. If these exercises could create the same result, even if it took longer, I’d definitely just keep doing them.

Posted by: Sclera

I found a couple more exercises that I’ve begun. At the end, I also hook my thumbs to my palate and pull forward (max one to two seconds), which creates a lot of releases and pops.

https://healingbyyang.com/infertility-and-sphenoid/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEH4m6ici1g&t=2s

I was intrigued by the photo of the exercise, and really didn’t pay attention to any of the infertility aspect of the article.

Experiences so far, though I'm being cautious:

• Felt immense pressure along the bridge of my nose, zygomatic bones, and forehead similar to when I hard mew
• Canines ached for at least ten minutes after the exercises
• Head felt very light for the rest of the night, almost like it was a bobble head toy
  • Did NOT feel light headed, though. More like I had just had an hour massage
• Posture improved immediately
• Mackenzie tucked and then turned my head, the releases were in my shoulders and first ribs

 

Even today, my nose is feeling pressure even though I’m not hard mewing at the moment, and I am able to take in much more air than before.

I have an endonasal technique evaluation appt coming up, but I’m still a bit afraid of the procedure. If these exercises could create the same result, even if it took longer, I’d definitely just keep doing them.

I'm concerned that the position lying on the floor with the occiput against the wall might encourage kyphosis, but I'll give them a try and see if I have the same sense of release that you describe. Just to clarify, you do the first exercise with your head against the wall for a few minutes, and then the second exercise with your fingers on the sides of your head for a few minutes, and then you pull with your thumbs against your palate for a few seconds?

@apollo -- yes, I agree about the kyphosis encouragement, which is why I'm hesitantly doing it. I'm hoping that by being extra cognizant of my posture, I'll keep things balanced.

And yes, floor/wall exercise, then table/finger pressure on temple, then the thumbs against the palate pull.

I'm very curious to see what your experience is!

Interesting experience, thanks for sharing.

@apollo It's impossible to stretch yourself into kyphosis, or any other imbalance for that matter. Imbalances are enforced by chronic imbalanced activation of muscles. If anything, stretching the occiput will allow the spine to straighten out of kyphotic and lordotic tension. Tension is what kyphosis is. Stretching on the other hand relieves tension.

@progress, that's good to know! I'm still concerned, given how intense the sensations were, that I could be damaging myself somehow, so I'm not going to overdo it, despite how encouraged I feel.

That sounds reasonable. I think I'll experiment with your exercises too.

Posted by: Progress

@apollo It's impossible to stretch yourself into kyphosis, or any other imbalance for that matter. Imbalances are enforced by chronic imbalanced activation of muscles. If anything, stretching the occiput will allow the spine to straighten out of kyphotic and lordotic tension. Tension is what kyphosis is. Stretching on the other hand relieves tension.

I don't think this is true. Yes, kyphosis is caused by tension, but if you are stretching out the muscles responsible for counteracting that tension, then it only encourages the kyphosis. In other words, if you stretch/release the muscles that hold the head back over the shoulders and the spine in alignment, but contract the muscles responsible for bending forward, over time the balance of your resting posture will tilt toward the direction of kyphosis. I don't know that a few minutes per day is significant, but I wouldn't want to sleep or spend hours watching television in that position. For example, if I take a bath in a conventional tub where the walls have no slope, and lay back to soak, my neck can assume something like this position for an extended period and really relax into it with the warm water. When I get out of the tub it feels like the back of my neck is hyperextended and I'm more prone to kyphosis and forward head posture.

@sclera I tried the two exercises you recommended for 3 minutes each and then put my thumbs on the rugae of my palate and pulled forward. I didn't get the releases and pops you described. Maybe I didn't do the exercises correctly. When I've tried self NCR sessions recently I've successfully inflated within the nasopharynx but this also hasn't yielded any significant cracks or pops, so I'm not saying your methods are any better or worse at releasing the sphenoid. Maybe I need to be more calm and less tense for any of these sphenoid adjustment strategies to work. The back of my neck did feel stretched out after the exercise against the wall in a way that I didn't like, so I probably won't keep experimenting with this unless you think I did something incorrectly.

@apollo - I definitely don't want you to continue to do anything that feels ineffective or damaging. Unfortunately, I have no idea if you did anything differently than I did. It's also possible that you're farther along that I am. I get those pops and releases when I pull with my thumbs, even without any stretches.

I've been continuing to do exercises, and am experiencing similar results to my initial attempts, though they aren't nearly as intense as the first time. I do them at night, and when I wake up I continue to feel slight pressure against the bridge of my nose. I have no idea if it's doing anything positive, but I'm curious to see what happens with my endonasal technique appointment.

No NCR or ABC practitioners in my area, sadly. I hope that this chiropractor understands the perspective I'm coming from. He also practices myofascial release, so I'm hopeful.

At any rate, I thought I would try the endonasal release at least once and see how it compared.

Posted by: Sclera

@apollo - I definitely don't want you to continue to do anything that feels ineffective or damaging. Unfortunately, I have no idea if you did anything differently than I did. It's also possible that you're farther along that I am. I get those pops and releases when I pull with my thumbs, even without any stretches.

I've been continuing to do exercises, and am experiencing similar results to my initial attempts, though they aren't nearly as intense as the first time. I do them at night, and when I wake up I continue to feel slight pressure against the bridge of my nose. I have no idea if it's doing anything positive, but I'm curious to see what happens with my endonasal technique appointment.

No NCR or ABC practitioners in my area, sadly. I hope that this chiropractor understands the perspective I'm coming from. He also practices myofascial release, so I'm hopeful.

At any rate, I thought I would try the endonasal release at least once and see how it compared.

I think you'll enjoy the endonasal release session. It's really not as uncomfortable as you might imagine. It's just hard for me to tell if it is doing anything when I treat myself. NCR practitioners talk about needing to be in a parasympathetic state for the adjustment to work, so maybe my muscles are just too tense ( I wrote about this a little in the thread logging my routine: /community/community/main-forum/my-routine/paged/7/#post-2564 ). This could also be the reason why I didn't notice any effect from the exercises you recommended.

 I've never heard about all this. Mewing isn't good enough?

@skull, it's hard to say. It depends on each person. Personally, mewing isn't going to work as my ONLY method to getting my face and body to where they naturally should have been in the first place, but I have absolutely seen and continue to see benefits from it. I am also working on my terrible posture, and I have myofunctional disorder which needs a lot of improvement and other exercises that just mewing simply will not take care of. I'm taking a full body approach to either create results or progress faster than I would have with just mewing.

I found this thread to be really inspirational, and I come back to it often:  /community/community/main-forum/important-information-on-tongue-posture-body-posture-and-effort-required/

Posted by: Apollo

Posted by: Progress

@apollo It's impossible to stretch yourself into kyphosis, or any other imbalance for that matter. Imbalances are enforced by chronic imbalanced activation of muscles. If anything, stretching the occiput will allow the spine to straighten out of kyphotic and lordotic tension. Tension is what kyphosis is. Stretching on the other hand relieves tension.

I don't think this is true. Yes, kyphosis is caused by tension, but if you are stretching out the muscles responsible for counteracting that tension, then it only encourages the kyphosis. In other words, if you stretch/release the muscles that hold the head back over the shoulders and the spine in alignment, but contract the muscles responsible for bending forward, over time the balance of your resting posture will tilt toward the direction of kyphosis. I don't know that a few minutes per day is significant, but I wouldn't want to sleep or spend hours watching television in that position. For example, if I take a bath in a conventional tub where the walls have no slope, and lay back to soak, my neck can assume something like this position for an extended period and really relax into it with the warm water. When I get out of the tub it feels like the back of my neck is hyperextended and I'm more prone to kyphosis and forward head posture.

Kyphosis is foremost a failure to activate upper back and other related muscles that keep the head upright. As long as the postural musculature is engaged, it should not matter how far the individual anatomical pieces can stretch into extension or flexion. Your neck feels hyperextended when you get out of tub because the musculature is not prepared to embrace the temporary increase in range of motion. It pinpoints the very reason why stretching without strengthening can lead to injury. Stiffness is protective. 

Next time you get out of the tub with a neck that feels similarly hyperextended, spend some time trying to inhale/mew/mckenzie your way into a new level of skull/spinal support. 

Posted by: Sclera

@spheny I've been doing this glabella punch for a couple weeks. I'm not sure if it's having any impact, but I'm not seeing any harm so I'm continuing with it. I tend to push up my palate with my thumbs after, and definitely get some releases, in the same areas where I stretch my neck and yawn.

I don't think I will ever do NCR by myself, and unfortunately, there is no professional in my area who does it. But it's exercises like these and yawning that give me hope we can adjust everything using the force of our own bodies.

Oddly enough, I have a horizontal wrinkle over my glabella that formed in my very early twenties! I'm really curious to see if the releases do anything to that line.

Can you please thoroughly explain how to perform the glabela punch, im having trouble understanding what to do 

@parsa - I've only just been able to do it with any kind of result. After I do it now, I feel the pressure on my incisors, much like I do with the other two exercises. I took technique I learned from The First Rib Maneuver video from the Advanced Biostructural Correction  series (different video, but the basic concept is there):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEKPVgRq3iA

Please also note that I am not a professional or an expert, and I am NOT recommending or suggesting this. If you do, it's at your own discretion!

Here is what I do:

I find the glabella, and put two fingers on the spot, pressing in as hard as I can. I make a fist with my other hand, but instead of punching like you would a bag or an opponent with the four fingers lined up, I turn my fist so my curled index finger and curled thumb are facing me.

Still while pressing hard with the two fingers on the glabella, I use my fist and punch hard, landing the blow on those two fingers, trying to have the force of the blow go through rather than just stopping at the fingers. Like following through when throwing a baseball. The fingers absorb most of the impact of the punch, but the added pressure from the two fingers sends the punch's force into the head, and supposedly this helps release the sphenoid.

I believe it now, given that my teeth are aching slightly the same way I experience with the wall exercise and the temple exercise. I might keep doing all three at this point.

It seems that the purpose of the forementioned neck stretch is that it frees sternocleidomastoids, allowing the skull/tongue to lift chest upward by the clavicles (in the overall perspective tongue is responsible for lifting not only skull, but shoulders up too:

In turn,  gravity pulling shoulders down leads to temporal lobes being being pulled apart from the skull with the stenocleidomastoids, resulting in the skull "flowering" outward by its base. In short, the resulting chain will be tongue -> temporal lobe -> stenocleidomastoids -> clavicles -> gravity. 

In other words, tongue allows gravity to harness shoulders into a force of forward growth.

@progress - this would make sense, as with the First Rib Maneuver and the sphenoid release exercises I've felt more open than since I can ever remember.

I took posture photos and compared to two months ago, and my chest is noticeably lifted compared to February. My neck hasn't been able to keep up, so my forward head posture looks worse, but with how much my shoulders improved, I'm sure I'll get even more progress now. This morning, mewing has even felt different. My forehead is tingling now in a way only the bridge of my nose did.

I had to reschedule my chiropractic appointment, but I think that's a blessing in disguise, as I want to add a scoliosis assessment to it. I know I have it, but I only have partial information, and I want to know exactly how my spine bends and twists in order to really start exercising those weakened muscles.

First Rib Maneuver, glabella punch (properly done), wall release, temple release -- those four exercises alone have changed my life in a week. I can't imagine what would happen if I was able to release the rest of my body.

EDIT: I also need to amend, as I both hard mew and (gentle?) mew. When I hard mew, I get the forehead pressure with the bridge of the nose and zygomatic bones. With gentle mewing, I usually only feel the bridge of my nose. Since I incorporated the first Rib Maneuver this weekend, and after a week or so of the sphenoid releases, I am feeling the forehead pressure just by gentle mewing. And either they've just begun to pop out, or I finally was able to recognize the spots, but I think I can now feel the tips of the sphenoid behind my palate. At any rate, the landscape is changing. Really encouraging.

Great to hear. I have been having similar two steps forward one back kind of progression for spinal straightening & forward head posture. It seems that every time a part of the spine is adjusted/straightened, the spinal musculature above the adjusted spot tightens and is encouraged to fall down to a slough. Standing 45 degree sideways in front of a mirror helps to notice when that happens.

Each day I re-work my way up from sacrum to skull,  and each day the starting point gets a bit higher up than the previous day, the areas below it being fully mobile straight out of the bed. I imagine that eventually this will be the case for the whole body.